Dott on brink of date with destiny

UNDERDOG Graeme Dott held his nerve under pressure to move to within touching distance of his first Embassy World Championship final.

Dott looked to be finally bowing to the challenge of Matthew Stevens, who reeled off four successive frames to move ahead at 11-10 for the first time in their best-of-33 semi-final.

But the 26-year-old Scot gave every indication that he will not buckle under the challenge as he won the final three frames of the third session to lead 13-11.

Now Dott will need to win only four of the remaining nine frames to cross the finishing line and set up a likely meeting with red hot favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan, who leads Stephen Hendry 13-3.

It remains to be seen how much Dott's exertions have taken out of him should he reach the final and retain his place in the world's top 16.

He has already fought out 86 frames far more than any other tournament in which he has participated whereas "The Rocket" has breezed through the last two rounds with the minimum of effort.

But no-one can deny his fighting qualities after a season which he began by contemplating quitting the game and then in January smashing up his cue at his lack of success.

Dott began the third session impressively with a break of 61 to the final yellow which extended his advantage to 10-7 the second time he had been three frames in front.

But errors began to creep into his play for the first time. Beaten 2000 finalist Stevens took full advantage and began to play with greater fluency.

Dott broke off in frame 18 and left Stevens a red which set him on the way to a 104.

In the next, Dott made a hash of a safety shot with reds scattered all the table and Stevens capitalised with a run of 84.

Stevens looked to be growing in belief and went into the interval all square with the help of a 52 in frame 20.

Then he found himself ahead for the first time at 11-10 with a break of 73, but Dott showed that he was not about to buckle.

A 74 in the next made it all square again, and 42 then 47 in the next enabled the 26-year-old to edge back in front.

Stevens was first among the balls in the final frame of the session but Dott responded with a superb 69 to the final black.

The clash was overshadowed by the stunning display from O'Sullivan, who extended his overnight lead from 6-2 to 13-3 against seven-times world champion Hendry, with an awesome display of potting.

Hendry had been in serious danger of suffering his first ever Crucible session whitewash until he won the final frame.

But he will have to win five of the first eight frames today to avoid tasting his first ever defeat with a session to spare at snooker's most famous venue.

Hendry could also experience his heaviest ever defeat. That is currently the 9-0 drubbing which was handed out to him by Marcus Campbell in the first round of the 1998 British Championship.

The Scot made some uncharacteristic errors, missing relatively easy pots and was also guilty of poor safety play, but almost every one of these was punished in devastating fashion by the Londoner.

O'Sullivan rattled in six breaks of over 50 in the eight frames, including his 12th century of the tournament.

He also notched up 630 points to Hendry's 138 during the two-hour blitz.