Snooker: Hendry books final rematch with Williams

Stephen Hendry, seven times world champion, hopes to win his seventh Benson & Hedges Masters title today at the expense of Mark Williams, the UK Champion, who beat him 10-9 on a deciding frame tie-break black in an epic 1998 final here.

Hendry, who made four centuries in beating Williams 9-5 for the Regal Welsh Open title a fortnight ago, started in similar vein against Ken Docherty last night and prevailed 6-3; Williams ended Paul Hunter's pursuit of a hat-trick of Masters titles with a 6-3 win.

Disappointed to fall only a pink and black short of a maximum in his 6-4 win over Jimmy White on Friday Hendry had breaks of 144, a new-front runner for £22,000 highest-break prize, and 97 in leading 4-1. "I felt a lot more relaxed than I did against Jimmy,'' Hendry said. "Winning a match like that gave me a real buzz and I came out all guns blazing.''

As the exchanges grew more tactical, Docherty won two of the next three frames and almost closed to 4-5 but lost ideal position for the blue, leaving Hendry to clear. "It was a pity,'' Docherty said. "If I could have won that frame it might have been interesting. Early on Stephen was pretty awesome.''

The key moment of Williams's victory was when Hunter missed a pink for 4-4 that he would hardly ever miss. He left Williams snookered, but Williams bent the cue ball round the black, potted the pink and added the tricky black to lead 5-3. '"That pink did it for me,'' said Hunter. "I couldn't get it out of my head.''

Williams agreed that it was "a massive turning point''. Although both players made three half-centuries, with Hunter's 70 and 89 the two highest, Williams rated the contest overall as "a bit scrappy'' but pointed out that his 10-0 defeat by Hunter from 5-0 up in last year's final was his only reverse in their nine encounters.

Legislation makes this the last B & H Masters. The future of the event in terms of a replacement sponsor and continuing at Wembley, is uncertain.