Mark Joyce dumps veteran former world No. 1 Stephen Hendry out of European Masters qualifying

Mark Joyce routed veteran snooker legend Stephen Hendry 5-0 at the European Masters qualifiers on Saturday evening.

Hendry has seven World Championships to his name, and shares with Ronnie O’Sullivan a record of 14 world titles.

He has 18 Triple Crown titles to his name but at 53 it appears that his attempted comeback to professional snooker will not end with another tournament win of any kind.

So far, Hendry’s best performance was in the last British Open when he went out at the second round, and there have only been a handful of first-round appearances besides.

The European Masters is not a competition he will progress further in now after Joyce’s solid performance.

Five consecutive frames for Joyce sent Hendry on his way, and three half century breaks from Joyce – the highest in the fourth frame of 82 – was only seven fewer points than Hendry managed all match.

The Englishman will now take his place in the first round of the European Masters, to be held on August 16.

Shaun Murphy is looking to put an injury-ravaged 2021/22 season behind him, and he secured safe passage to the first round with a 5-3 win over Dean Young.

Robert Milkins, the Gibraltar Open winner last season, eased to a 5-0 win over Lu Ning, Barry Pinches beat Rebecca Kenna 5-1, and Mitchell Mann saw off Mink Nutcharut by the same scoreline.

Anthony McGill beat Alexander Ursenbacher in a final-frame decider, Andrew Higginson saw off Joe O’Connor and Lei Peifan was too strong for Rod Lawler.

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