Ken Doherty pulled off a remarkable recovery to bring five barren years to an end with victory in the Malta Cup in Portomaso tonight.

Revitalised veteran Ken Doherty was more than halfway towards his first world ranking title in five years after taking charging of the Malta Cup final today.

Ken Doherty admitted he had been in a battle after moving a step closer to ending a five-year barren period by beating Graeme Dott 6-3 to reach the Malta Cup final at the Portomaso Hilton today.