SHEFFIELD, April 21: England’s Stephen Lee beat Malta’s Tony Drago 10-5 on Thursday to set up a second- round match against Peter Ebdon at the world championship. Lee, who was ahead from the start and notched up three century breaks, was pleased with his form after losing in the first round at the Crucible last year.

When Lee and Ebdon met at the same stage four years ago, Lee was unhappy with his opponent’s over-the-top celebrations after sealing a dramatic 13-12 win.

The ninth seed insists, however, that the incident has been forgotten. Scotland’s Stephen Hendry opened up a commanding 6-2 lead over Anthony Hamilton in the opening session of their second round match.

Hendry, a record seven-times world champion, made a century break in the first frame and gave Hamilton few chances to find his rhythm.

Results (second round) (best of 25 frames): 3-Stephen Hendry (Scotland) leads Anthony Hamilton (England) 6-2 (117-8 4-111 69-37 76-13 88-0 82-1 77-22 17-86) Round 1 (Best of 19 frames) 9-Stephen Lee (England) beat Tony Drago (Malta) 10-5 (107-16 48-68 106-9 126-7 87-0 23-52 61-37 61-49 57-69 81-9 81-34 51-65 36-79 108-13 77-39) Ian McCulloch (England) leads 15-Graeme Dott (Scotland) 6-3 (80-29 70-51 67-61 61-46 28-74 38-84 31-106 77-33 59-31) —Reuters