Doherty sees off Hunter

Paul Hunter’s bid for back-to-back ranking titles came to an end as Ken Doherty became the first player to reach the last eight of the PowerHouse UK Championship.

Hunter’s superb 9-1 victory over David Gray in the previous round counted for nothing as Irishman Doherty defeated the recently crowned British Open champion 9-4.

It was sweet revenge for the Dubliner after losing to Hunter in last season’s Welsh Open final in Cardiff.

Hunter’s top break was just 61 but he remained upbeat after again failing to make an impact in snooker’s second most important ranking event.

“I can’t grumble at all because I’ve had a great year and still hold three titles,” said the world number nine from Leeds, who refused to blame an ear infection for a below par performance.

“I don’t think I missed too many balls. It’s just many of the frames were scrappy and that’s the way the balls went.

“But I’m getting used to it because Ken does it every time we play. It was one of those days when nothing went right.

Doherty is delighted to still have a chance to make amends for last season’s 10-1 final defeat by Ronnie O’Sullivan.

He arrived in York without a win to his name this season but next plays Steve Davis or John Higgins for a place in the last four.

“I don’t think I played as well as I did against Stephen Maguire in the last round,” said Doherty.

“But this was a different kind of game and there was more safety involved. You can’t always go toe to toe with these guys because you’re not always going to come out on top.

“So this was a good result because I’m sure Paul was favourite for this match.”