Hendry beat home favourite Williams.
HENDRY PROVES HE'S BACK
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An era ended as it had begun in Cardiff on Sunday night - with Stephen Hendry
defeating a local favourite to win the Regal Welsh Open.
Hendry produced a superb performance of potting and break-building to beat
world number two Mark Williams 9-5.
The victory gave Hendry the 34th ranking title of his career and his first
since he won the European Open in Malta 13 months ago.
And it brought the tournament full circle 11 years after Hendry won the
inaugural Regal Welsh event in 1992 with a 9-3 victory over Darren Morgan, who
was then the top player in Wales.
The Welsh Open's current sponsorship arrangement with Regal has come to an end
due to Government legislation outlawing tobacco sponsorship.
But there is no sign of Hendry's world-beating form being extinguished just
yet.
The 34-year-old Scot, who also won the Welsh title in 1997, fashioned four
century breaks
"It was back to the good old days," said Hendry, who pocketed a cheque for
£82,500.
"It's not often you go to the table feeling like you'll dish up every time
you get a chance but I felt fantastic all the way through," he said.
Hendry, ranked sixth, produced a blistering start, knocking in three centuries
to claim a 5-2 first session lead.
The seven-times world champion constructed runs of 127, 104 and a 140 total
clearance, the highest of the tournament, to take his career century tally to
586, nearly 200 more than his closest challenger, Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Hendry also knocked in breaks of 89 and 64 during a first rate display which
left Williams with it all to do going into the evening session.
The UK champion made the worst possible start as Hendry compiled century
number 587, a run of 108, to lead 6-2.
But Williams fought back into contention as he put together efforts of 87 and
54 to trail only 6-4.
The provisional world number one also had a good chance to reduce the deficit
to a single frame but he missed a tricky blue attempting to clear up in frame 11
and Hendry sank the last three balls to go ahead 7-4.
Williams did close to 7-5, but breaks of 79 and 91 saw Hendry over the line
for the first title of 2003.
Hendry had lost 9-8 to Williams in the final four years ago and was drubbed
9-2 by his close friend in the semi-finals of last month's Powerhouse UK
Championship.
"Mark's a good mate and we have a laugh so now it's my turn to send text
messages to wind him up like he's done to me," said Hendry.
"He's a great player and it's nice to play well against him.
"My form has been brilliant in practice all season but that doesn't mean
you'll play like that in a tournament.
"From the semi-finals onwards, I felt very comfortable."
Hendry has now won 34 ranking titles and 70 trophies in total from 93 major
finals.
He rises to second behind Williams in the provisional rankings.
Williams said: "I'll have to switch my phone off now. I've given him so much
stick when I've beaten him that he's entitled to give it back.
"I was never in it. Stephen played fantastic snooker all through the match
and yet I was only a couple of shots from making it 6-6.
"There can't be many finals in which he's played better than that, it was
frightening.
"I'm not too disappointed because I've won it twice and it's nice that
Stephen has won the first and last."
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