Welsh Open: Stephen Hendry beats Neil Robertson in first round

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Hendry's last ranking tournament victory came in the 2005 Malta Cup

Veteran Stephen Hendry caused a surprise in the first round of the Welsh Open with a 4-1 victory over Australian Neil Robertson.

The 43-year-old Scot scored heavily, opening with a break of 62 before being pegged back by Robertson's 135.

But it was the Masters champion's only joy as Hendry clinched a frame on a re-spotted black and adding breaks of 67 and 86 to advance into round two.

He will face either Ken Doherty or Mark Allen in the last 16.

"Wow great performance by Hendry to beat me there. That was the Hendry of old unfortunately for me,"

World number one Mark Selby survived a scare against qualifier Sam Baird to narrowly scrape into the next round with a 4-3 victory.

The Leicester man was 3-2 behind but showed his grit to take the last two frames.

He will face Martin Gould who triumped after a 4-2 win over the 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon. The Englishman hit breaks off 99, 82 and 73 to go through.

Welshman Mark Williams also advanced with a 4-3 win over England's Andy Hicks.

The two-time world champion was behind three times, but edged out his opponent by taking the last two frames to set up a clash with either Ronnie O'Sullivan or Marco Fu.

Meanwhile, Stephen Lee brushed aside Michael Holt 4-1 to book his place in the second round.

The 37-year-old from Wiltshire took the first frame but Holt levelled in the next. However, Lee went ahead in the third and did not look back to book a meeting with Tom Ford.