Snooker World Championship: Nigel Bond, once fifth but now 27th in the world rankings, secured his biggest win for a decade by beating Stephen Hendry 10-9 in a spellbinding conclusion to the 48-minute deciding frame of their clash last night.

After many a twist and turn, Bond potted black for the win, only to see the cue ball roll into a middle pocket to leave the frame tied. After a short duel on the extra black, Hendry left it woefully short for Bond to clip into a middle pocket, leaving the seven-times champion of the 1990s a first-round loser.

Hendry struggled in the first session and trailed 6-3 overnight, but played much better yesterday. In the early frames, though, Bond scarcely missed a ball, clearing with 43 to win the first on the black and doing well enough in the second to leave Hendry needing a snooker. It seemed certain that Hendry would fall 8-3 behind but Bond unforgivably went in while potting a thin green to allow Hendry a chance to clear. This had all the hallmarks of a turning point and so it proved as Hendry won the next four frames to lead 8-7.

However, Bond, British Open champion 10 years ago, kept his cool, levelling at 8-8 and again at 9-9 before prevailing.

"That was then, this is now," said Ronnie O'Sullivan in reference to his 5-1 and 5-0 defeats on his last two outings after disposing of Dave Harold 10-4 with the aid of three centuries, 106, 139 and 100. "If you get a 7-0 lead you've got to go some to lose a match from there," he said.

Michael Holt received a referee's warning for "an offensive gesture" in the session which saw him 5-4 adrift of Peter Ebdon.