Three Scots have won the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley Conference Centre - but John Higgins and Alan McManus made their exits on Monday and Stephen Hendry had to recover from 4-1 down to repel the challenge of 18-year-old Shaun Murphy.

Higgins lifted the trophy at Wembley two years ago but even then, he confessed, he did not feel entirely at home, in the venue easily the largest on the circuit.

In beating the world champion, Mark Williams, 10-4 to win the UK Championships at Bournemouth in November, Higgins produced snooker of the very highest quality but after losing 6-3 on Monday to Dave Harold, the world number 13, he admitted: "My B-game isn't there any more and it's something I've got to address."

"To qualify to play here is great in itself. So to beat someone of John's calibre is fantastic.

"I've laid a few skeletons to rest with that.

"I was beginning to think he was on a very different level but he missed a few balls and at 3-3 I sensed I had a chance."

McManus, who ended Hendry's 23-match winning streak at Wembley in the 1994 final, went down 6-4 to Peter Ebdon in a three hours 40 minutes marathon, which never the less featured two Ebdon centuries, 135 and 104.

Although he demonstrated his immense tenacity with a match-saving break of 72 in the penultimate frame, McManus made more unforced errors than he used to.

This seems to be the difference between his past and present game.

Hendry, six times masters champion, is hungry for his first title for 17 months.

But at 4-1, he was in deep trouble against young Murphy.

Eagerly awaited

There is though, no substitute for experience.

Maturely as Murphy had played, he did seem to be overcome by the enormity of the famous victory which was coming within his grasp.

He started to make mistakes and Hendy was suddenly back in the groove, reeling off a string of breaks, including 94, 78 and 71, as his run of five straight frames carried him to his 6-4 victory.

His quarter-final opponent will be the survivor of Tuesday's eagerly awaited match between Ronnie O'Sullivan, winner of three titles this season and Jimmy White, who has been presented with a special plaque by the venue to recognise 20 years unbroken participation in snooker's most prestigious invitation tournament.