Hendry storms into quarter-finals

Stephen Hendry, seeking a repeat of his 2005 Malta Cup success, blew away Neil Robertson yesterday to reach the last eight of this year's event.

The world no. 1 recorded a 5-0 whitewash of his Australian opponent to set up a meeting with Ali Carter at the Hilton Conference Centre.

Hendry beat Graeme Dott 9-7 in the final in Malta two years ago for his 36th and last ranking title.

The 38-year-old believes he is close to regaining his best form and ending one of the longest silverware droughts of his career.

"The best part of my game, break-building, is coming back. I've not been scoring as consistently as I'd like for the last two or three years," said the Scot, who has now reached the quarter-finals of 116 of the 178 ranking events he has contested.

"I am still not as consistent in the balls as I'd like to be but I am more confident when I get chances. I have been working hard and that doesn't give you the divine right to play well and win, but without the work you can't be successful."

Hendry took control of the first frame with a 52, then Robertson had a chance to steal it but missed the final brown and committed a bizarre foul as he absent-mindedly nudged the brown with his cue while following the progress of the cue ball. Hendry was left with a free ball and duly cleared.

In frame two Hendry made 64 then Grand Prix winner Robertson countered with 46 before playing a poor safety on the blue which allowed his opponent to go 2-0 up.

Frame three followed a similar pattern as Hendry built a 65-0 lead and clinched it after Robertson missed the penultimate red on 26. A superb 120 saw Hendry go 4-0 up and he subjected the Aussie to the third whitewash of his career with a 47 in the fifth.

"The first three could have gone either way," admitted Hendry.

"I felt solid all day but Neil's a good player and I didn't expect to win 5-0."

Ryan Day is through to the second quarter-final of his career thanks to a courageous 5-4 defeat of Fergal O'Brien.

The Welshman led 4-2 thanks to a top break of 80 then Dubliner O'Brien recovered to 4-4 with 65 and 101.

But Day retained his composure to make a 55 in the decider and progress to a match with Mark King who beat Michael Holt 5-4 in a marathon match that lasted over four hours.

"I had chances to win 5-2 but I made a couple of mistakes, then I had to sit in my chair for 30 or 40 minutes. Fergal takes his time and doesn't speed up even when he's already won the frame.

"But I held myself together and made a frame-winning break in the end."

Doherty fights back

Defending champion Ken Doherty produced a stirring fightback before progressing to the quarter-finals.

The Irish player seemed in trouble when he lost the first two frames against England's Andrew Higginson. However, Doherty soon clicked into gear winning the next five frames, compiling breaks of 89, 87 and 86.

"I've always built myself up to try and win every tournament but there are certain venues and places where you feel more relaxed and this is one," said Doherty, winner of the Rothmans Malta GP in 1997 and 2000.

Doherty will face UK champion Peter Ebdon who scored an impressive 5-2 win over Stephen Maguire 5-2.

After sharing the opening four frames, Ebdon started to play with more composure to win the next three frames to remain on course for his second ranking title of the season.

Results: S. Hendry bt N. Robertson 5-0; R. Day bt F. O'Brien 5-4; K. Doherty bt A. Higginson 5-2; P. Ebdon bt S. Maguire 5-2; M. King bt M. Holt 5-4.

Today's quarter-final matches: 4 p.m. S. Hendry vs A. Carter; S. Murphy vs G. Dott. 8 p.m. K. Doherty vs P. Ebdon; R. Day vs M. King.