Stephen Hendry moved a step closer to a final against Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship in Preston last night - partly thanks to a sleeping partner!

The rivals qualified for the semi-finals with convincing victories over Alan McManus and Gerard Greene and are on a collision course for a showdown on Sunday.

But it was a loudly snoring spectator who stole the show in Hendry's match with McManus - probably booking himself a future slot on Question of Sport's `What Happened Next' slot. About to pot a pink in frame 10, McManus stood up off the shot laughing loudly to himself, moments later to be joined by referee Jan Verhaas.

Hendry then joined in the chuckles as the spectator in the front row continued to snore loudly, oblivious to the action around him.

Eventually after several minutes he was woken up from his slumbers by another fan and then disappeared into the night.