Scots en route to semis

DEFENDING champion Stephen Hendry and fellow Scot John Higgins made heavy weather of their second-round matches at the European Open in Torquay last night, before setting up an intriguing quarter-final showdown.

Both took identical routes into the last eight at the Palace Hotel, with 5-4 victories over Graeme Dott and Gerard Greene respectively.

But there were plenty of anxious moments in the deciding frames before they joined Mark Williams and Paul Hunter in the quarter-finals of the £250,000 event.

Hendry conjured up a vital 51 break to defeat Dott for a sixth successive time, while Higgins reached the winning line with the help of 16 points in fouls and three invaluable runs of 20-plus.

“To get a good break in that last frame and come through a match like that having been 4-0 up was very pleasing,” said Hendry, the seven-time world champion. “I could easily have lost.”

The seven-time world champion began the contest with the 595th century break of his career and also racked up a half-century in frame three.

Dott refused to surrender however, and when the match resumed he nicked frame five on the pink and the next three frames with breaks of 50, 42, 53 and 98.

He also led 23-12 in the decider before Hendry knocked in a good red to begin his match-winning break.

In the other match, Higgins trailed on four occasions against Greene, the world number 63 from Kent who put out Jimmy White in the first round.

“It was a scrappy game and I missed too many easy balls,” said Higgins. “But even though I should have been 4-3 up instead of 4-3 down I still felt pretty good and in the end I didn’t play too badly.”

In contrast, the opening two matches of the session were much more straightforward.

Paul Hunter, the British Open champion from Leeds, defeated Dubliner Ken Docherty 5-3, while Mark Williams, who is chasing his third title of the season, thrashed Belgium’s Bjorn Haneveer 5-1.

The pair will now meet for a place in Saturday’s semi-finals.