Stevens: I'll need to improve to beat Hendry

Matthew Stevens knows he will have to raise his game tonight in order to block Stephen Hendry’s irresistible progress in the Malta Cup.

Stevens, relieved to be back in a semi-final for the first time in 10 months, saw off Alan McManus 5-2 to prevent total Scottish domination of the last four at the Portomaso Hilton on the shores of the Mediterranean.

But the Welshman, only now returning to something approaching his best after four opening-round exits to start the season, is not about to get carried away with his mini-revival.

“I haven’t played great here so far and I know I’ll have to improve if I want to compete with Stephen,” said Stevens, who went into an extended slump after winning the 2003 UK Championship.

“When you’ve had such a bad run it tends to play on your mind. You try to put it to the back of your mind but it’s difficult.

“But I beat Shaun Murphy 5-4 in the first round here and since then I’ve felt so much better. It’s all turned around so quickly. I’m not scoring very heavily but my safety’s been very good.”

Stevens steadily established a 3-0 lead before McManus got into gear with breaks of 53 and 98 to trail only 3-2 and suggest a tight finish was in the offing.

Instead, Stevens regained a two-frames cushion with a 62 break before rallying from 44 points adrift to add the seventh on the blue. It was his fourth win over McManus in succession.

Hendry continued to breeze through the event with his third 5-1 win in as many matches.

This time his victim was Leicester’s Tom Ford, who endured a baptism of fire on his debut in the quarter-finals of a world ranking tournament.

Hendry, who claims he is hitting the ball as well as ever, rounded out the contest in fine style with runs of 103, 108 and a 138 total clearance that replaced Ford’s 136 as the highest break of the competition.

In this afternoon’s first semi-final, John Higgins, winner of the 1997 European Open just down the road at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, will be looking to stay on course for his second title on Maltese soil.

He now faces fellow Scot Graeme Dott, who followed up his shock 5-0 whitewash of Ronnie O’Sullivan on Thursday by beating Steve Davis 5-1 in a slow, tactical slog.

“There’s no doubt I’m a better player than I was 12 months ago. I seem to handle things better these days,” said Dott, runner-up to O’Sullivan in last year’s Embassy World Championship.