A NEW name went on the UK Snooker Championship trophy last year as Welshman Matthew Stevens gained the first ranking title of his career at the end of a York tournament full of surprises.

Stevens came back from 4-0 down to beat Stephen Hendry 10-8.

It was the reward for a determined effort by Stevens to rebuild his career after having gone off the rails following the death of his father and mentor in 2001.

Stevens admitted he feared the worst when Hendry won the first four frames. "Stephen started off like a train and I'm sure 95 per cent of the people watching thought it was all over. The way he was playing I had doubts of my own. But I managed to nick the fifth frame and that was massive."

Hendry pinpointed the reason for his defeat on bad misses in the fifth and 14th frames.

On his way to the final, Stevens, a Welsh speaker from Carmarthen, knocked out James Wattana, close friend Paul Hunter of Leeds and then people's favourite Jimmy White.

The Whirlwind's fans turned out in force hoping to see their hero get to the final, but the great form he had produced in earlier rounds deserted him and he lost 9-7 to Stevens.

Hendry defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-4 in the semis to end a tournament of torment for the Rocket.

Despite playing brilliantly in beating Alan McManus in his second match, O'Sullivan admitted that personal prob-lems had him on the verge of breakdown.

But two days later he was feeling much more at ease with himself and saw off Aussie Quentin Hann with ease 9-3.

Hendry, though, proved a step too far for O'Sullivan as the great Scot swept into a 6-2 lead. O'Sullivan hit back with a 138 clearance and got to 6-4 but Hendry capitalised on a few poor safety shots by the 2001 champion, and the six-times world and five-times UK champion clinched his final place with a 109 break.

The Rocket, of course, was back firing on all cylinders at Sheffield earlier this year when he regained the world crown.

The first shock of the 2003 UK tournament had seen defending champion Mark Williams beaten 9-7 in his opening match, losing to Irishman Fergal O'Brien, who then lost to White.

The next big name to fall was Irish former world champion Ken Doherty, losing finalist in the previous to UK championship. He fell to Derbyshire's former world finalist Nigel Bond, who went on to reach the quarter-finals before losing to White.

And former world and UK champion John Higgins was way out of form when losing his opening match, beaten by Thailand's James Wattana.

More than 680 frames of top-flight snooker were played in 47 matches over 12 days in York last year. The highest break was 143 by Allister Carter in his second round defeat by Hendry.

Last year's results from last eight

Quarter-finals: Jimmy White bt Nigel Bond 9-3, Matthew Stevens bt Paul Hunter 9-3, Ronnie O'Sullivan bt Quinten Hann 9-3, Stephen Hendry bt Barry Pinches 9-3.

Semi-finals: Matthew Stevens bt Jimmy White 9-7, Stephen Hendry bt Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-4.

Final: Matthew Stevens bt Stephen Hendry 10-8.

Updated: 16:19 Wednesday, November 10, 2004