Snooker: Hendry secures swift victory

Stephen Hendry, the world champion, defeated Terry Griffiths for the 15th time in succession to reach the semi-finals of the Thailand Classic in Bangkok yesterday.

Hendry secured a 5-0 win in 70 minutes and will meet either John Higgins or John Parrott for a place in the final of a tournament which carries a first prize of pounds 40,000.

"I'm not as psyched up for this event as I was for the Regal Masters at Motherwell," Hendry said after the whitewash. "But to stay in that sort of mood week in, week out is very difficult. It also doesn't mean that I don't want to win over here. I reckon I have as good a chance as anyone of picking up the trophy on Saturday."

Hendry scored breaks of 83, 68, 60 and 40 as he strolled to victory against the new-look Griffiths, who is now wearing glasses. Hendry also had a 5-0 win in his last meeting with Griffiths, in the 1992 Dubai Duty Free, and in overall frames between the pair holds a 114-38 lead.

The unheralded Dave Finbow stunned James Wattana and his local fan club by knocking out the home favourite. It was the second-round result the Thai fans did not want as Finbow, a 27-year-old from Worcester, won 5- 4.

Finbow, ranked 47th in the world, led 3-0 but after seven frames was one behind. A break of 107 then forced the decider before he wrapped up the match 74-35.

"Considering where I was and what happened, this has to be a very special win for me," Finbow said. "But I couldn't believe some of the shots James played. He had the first frame in the bag, but then somehow gave me the chance to win it on the black.

"I thought the crowd might be a little partisan, but they were great throughout the match and applauded when I played some good shots."

Joe Swail, a former English amateur champion, defeated Jimmy White 5- 3 to claim his first victory over the world No 7 in four attempts.

Results, Sporting Digest, page 31