Doherty recovers to beat in-form Bingham

FORMER world champion Ken Doherty produced an unlikely comeback to beat in-form Essex professional Stuart Bingham 5-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Malta Cup at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre yesterday.

Doherty recovered from 3-0 down to advance. On the verge of leading 4-0, Bingham left a tricky thin cut on the final black in a top-corner pocket’s jaws.

“That threw me a lifeline and gave me a lot of hope. I kept fighting and hanging in there,” said Doherty, who from 3-1 adrift won four of the following frames with the only one half-century break.