Doherty denied at death

STEVE DAVIS and Stephen Hendry made experience count in their respective Travis Perkins UK Championship quarter-finals.

Elder statesmen Davis and Hendry, with 11 UK and 13 world titles between them, eventually edged past Ken Doherty and Ali Carter to form an unlikely match-up in today’s s first semi-final showdown.

Both men faced stern examinations of their credentials, before Davis toppled Doherty 9-7, while Hendry overcame Carter by the same scoreline in a thrilling finale.

Davis continued his rich vein of form against Ken Doherty. The 48-year-old, with six UK Championship titles to his name, led the Dubliner 6-1 at the halfway point of their quarter-final, needing just three frames to secure a semi-final berth.

After a mammoth 53-minute opening frame, Davis eventually found his feet opening up a lead with a display of potting and cue ball control not seen since his golden era of the 1980s. He cruised into a 5-0 lead thanks to solid contributions of 54 and 81, before Doherty fluked a black on a re-spot to offer himself hope at 5-1.

But it was a short-lived reprieve for the number 12 seed and Davis took the last frame to regain his five-frame advantage.

When the pair resumed in the evening, former world champion Doherty began to show more of the form which helped him dismiss John Higgins in the previous round, pulling the lead back to 7-4 and then 8-7 as Davis began to feel the pressure, missing several relatively easy chances to press towards the win.

But Davis held his nerve and secured the win in the 16th frame, thanks to a tremendous double when the frame came down to the final black.

“I’m so happy to be playing well at the minute,” said Davis afterwards.

“It sounds daft, but if I’d have played like this in the 80s then I think I could have been even more accurate.”

The glory belongs to Davis. Now 48, the Nugget enjoyed his best period of success some 10 years prior to Hendry’s prime years.

In his match, Hendry, who had stood just one frame away from victory at 8-4, suddenly became uncharacteristically twitchy.

He was visibly losing focus and concentration at the table, and let Carter, who up until that point had been out of sorts at the table, reduce the arrears to 8-7.

Carter had provided the main talking point of their opening session, spurning the chance of a 147 when he left himself too much work to do on the 14th black.

But with his back against the wall in the 16th frame, the five-time winner of the event produced a polished break of 64 to close out the match 9-7.