Hot Hendry can win title No.8 warns Ebdon

Stephen Maguire's impressive form has seen him installed as favourite to pocket the £250,000 winner's cheque next Monday, while Hendry has not won a tournament for more than three years. Indeed, the world No 8 would be the oldest champion since Ray Reardon won his sixth title in 1978 aged 45.

But as the back-toform Scot prepares to open his quarter-final a g a i n s t Ryan Day tomorrow, Ebdon — who beat Hendry 18-17 to win his only world title in 2002 — spelled out the danger he presents. Ebdon, who meets Ali Carter in the last eight, sa d: "Stephen's a genuine contender. I've no hesitation in saying that. And he'll know that more than anyone.

"People who don't consider him a title contender are deluded. He oozes class and age is no barrier — if I wanted to keep playing, I believe I could come back here and win at 60, but maybe that's fantasy.

"Stephen is the greatest player in history, an absolute legend. The man is a machine. He's got more experience than anybody here. He'll be fired up because people say he can't win.

"That is absolute nonsense. I've never played anybody with so much bottle, so much class, so much determination. That man's got everything. I take my hat off to him, he's a true champ."

Hendry has ensured he remains the youngest Crucible champion — he was 21 when he beat Jimmy White in 1990 — by despatching China's Ding Junhui 13-7 from the 888.com-sponsored event on Saturday.

Ebdon, battered 10-3 by Hendry in the 1996 UK Championship final, said: 'Ding has got immense potential but he was playing the greatest player that we'll probably ever see.

"I think I'm a fair judge of that because when I was coming through I ran into Stephen on numerous occasions when he was just playing awesome snooker.

"In a final against Hendry in the mid- Nineties you'd go back to your dressing room having not missed a ball, having not played a bad safety shot and be 4-0 down. Hendry's gone 130, 90, 80, 120.

"Nobody else has ever played anywhere near that standard. Ronnie is exceptional at times, as is John Higgins, as was Mark Williams and he will be again. It's an honour for me to play against them."

The Chinese standard is now being flown by Liang Wenbo, the 21-year-old qualifier who shook former world champion Ken Doherty with his 10-5 victory in the first round.

On the day the World Snooker Association revealed a third major tournament for China next season — the invitational Jiangsu Classic at Nanjing in June — Liang swept into a 6-2 overnight lead over Joe Swail.