Snooker

Stephen Hendry has announced his retirement tonight from snooker after his defeat in the World Snooker Championship Finals.

Stephen decided to retire after being beaten 13-2 by Stephen Maguire but had planned to retire after the tournamant any way, good luck to him

stephen will good down as a true great and the 147 against bingham this year magical

Bit of a sad way to go really but what a magnificent career. The best there's ever been for me.

Cracking match between O'Sułlivan and Robertson. Neil had a 5-3 lead but went through a damaging 6 frame losing streak mid match and that ultimately proved costly as the Rocket won 13-10. All set for a Maguire v O'Sullivan final me thinks which could be tight.
As for Hendry, I am not surprised at his decision or his reasoning. He will be remembered as the greatest breakbuilder of all time by most and as the man who stopped Jimmy White becomimg world champion on numerous occasions by others. As a Steve Davis fan to see Hendry overtake his 6 world titles was pretty galling if I'm honest but Hendry has my total respect for his achievements especially what he did at the Masters where his record was unbelievable. The number of century breaks he made and his 147 count will go down in legend. A true champion and I will remember the 147 against Bingham and the drubbing he handed out to John Higgins infinitely more than the defeat to Maguire.
He can depart the scene with his head held high. Well done sir.
On my way home now to watch some nightshow telly before returning to the Crucible tomorrow for the semi finals.

Engrossing opening session between Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire. The Carter gameplan seemed to be to frustrate his opponent and tempt him into rash shots. Maguire fell into the trap to some degree and got irritated. From 2-0 up Maguire contrived to lose the session 5-3 and as much as he might complain about run of the ball going against him that score is fair enough. He took on too many rash shots and allowed Carter to dictate terms too much.
Its a best of 33 marathon and way too early to be getting frustrated.
All set for O'Sullivan v Stevens in a bit.

Maguire was seriously poor in parts at 3-4 was it his highest break was only 33 or 35 I think.

O'Sullivan's to lose now I feel, on such good form for a change, it's quite nice to see him doing well.

With O'Sullivan its all about having his match head on and staying concentrated on the task at hand. So far so good but he has to maintain it. If he does nobody can stop him.

What a scrappy start to the semi between O'Sullivan and Stevens. A lot of careless mistakes and bitty frames. All in all Stevens should be pleased to be only 5-3 behind after initially trailing 4-0. A nice 80 break to finish too. Both players will hope for better tomorrow I think.

Ronnie will beat Ali Carter in the final.

Hendry's retirement summed up his career for me. I mean, John Higgins must feel chuffed to get hammered by someone who then turns around and goes "nah, I'm off, I've planned this for months"