Doherty through to Scottish semis

Dubliner Ken Doherty reached his third semi-final of the season with a 5-3 victory over Scotsman Alan McManus at the Regal Scottish Open.

“I saw Mark beat Paul Hunter and he played well under pressure,” said Doherty of tomorrow’s game with Selby.

“He also has the experience of playing in a semi-final so it won’t faze him playing me.”

Doherty has enjoyed some titanic struggles down the years with McManus and was surprised to find himself 3-0 in front with breaks of 65, 49 and 88.

But McManus, responsible for the 5-1 defeat of Ronnie O’Sullivan yesterday, came back strongly to level at 3-3 without ever threatening to overwhelm the Irishman under a barrage of big breaks.

In contrast, Doherty scored heavily throughout the game, including vital runs of 64 and 90 to prevent the Glaswegian scoring a point in the final two frames.

“The most pleasing thing was how well I played at the end,” said the 33-year-old world number five.

“You’ve got to be scoring heavily and punishing players to win things these days. You can’t rely on safety play to win you games anymore.”