World Snooker Championship: Veteran Hendry earns O'Sullivan's respect

Published on Friday 2 May 2008 10:46

RONNIE O'Sullivan admits he lacks the "killer instinct" that allowed Stephen Hendry to dominate snooker in the 1990s.

But the Rocket showed plenty of steel to stop seven-time winner Hendry seizing a decisive early advantage in their 888.com World Championship semi-final at the Crucible Theatre.

Hendry won four of the five opening frames in the best-of-33 showdown against an out-of-sorts O'Sullivan, who had been made 1/3 favourite by the tournament's sponsors to come out on top.

But O'Sullivan's attempt to be more consistent during the current campaign and not surrender when failing to fire on all cylinders allowed him to claw his way back into the match.

He won the final three frames of the session, meaning the duo will resume today at 4-4 in the second of the four sessions before the match reaches a climax tomorrow afternoon.

O'Sullivan said: "I've probably not got that killer instinct that Stephen has. That's the reason why he dominated the game like he did because he devoted all his time and his passion and his hunger.

"You never see him throw in the towel at any time whereas me, I've kind of not been up for it at times and not dug in as much.

"The important thing is to have some consistency and that's been the difference between this season and a lot of the others for myself. I've been a lot more consistent.

"I haven't been spectacular but it's been okay. I've never felt I've needed to play spectacularly.

"If I get some consistency in the spells when I'm not so 'on' then I come back to form pretty quickly and can reel four or five frames off.

"It's important for me to not have those periods where you can give the match away. You can't win a match in a session but you can certainly lose it. That's been probably the reason why I'm still in the tournament."

Hendry, beaten 17-4 by O'Sullivan in the 2004 semi-final – their last meeting in the tournament – set the tone for the early stages with a superb 140 clearance in the opening frame.

But O'Sullivan dug in even when the run of the balls went against him and a 102 break in the sixth frame was the catalyst for him to end the session all square.

In the other semi-final, Joe Perry overcame the fatigue factor to chisel out a 5-3 advantage over Ali Carter after the opening session.

The Cambridgeshire potter took advantage of a below-par performance from Carter, who would have been relatively happy to be trailing by only two frames going into today's second stint of eight.

Perry had been in action until close to midnight on Wednesday before closing out a dramatic 13-12 win over a shellshocked Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals.

But the 33-year-old world number 18 showed no visible effects of his marathon match and appeared slightly less nervous in a tense session between two players making their maiden last-four appearance in snooker's showpiece event.