KEN DOHERTY secured a place in the semi finals of the £500,000 British Masters at the Wembley Conference Centre last night.
The Republic of Ireland World Cup captain, who has never got further than the last eight of the game's premier invitation event in five previous visits, achieved his personal best with a 6-3 victory over Mark Williams.
"I'm delighted because Mark is a proven winner. He's up to third in the provisional world rankings and I can tell you from past experience what a difficult opponent he can be," said Doherty.
"I genuinely think I can go all the way now. There's plenty of fuel still left in the tank. I'm confident with my game and if I can just click up a gear or two that gold trophy could be mine."
The carelessness which plagued Williams during his 6-4 victory - over John Higgins in the last 16, resurfaced in the first half of the contest - but unlike his match with the Scot, Williams was made to pay.
Doherty accounted for two of the first three frames thanks to breaks of 53 and 54 before the Dubliner forged 3-1 ahead at the mid session interval by clearing yellow to blue.
There was a virtual carbon copy in the next as Doherty potted green to pink after Williams had again squandered chances but the Grand Prix champion put together his first contribution of note, 46, to take the sixth and trail 4-2.
Williams, who had prevailed on his three previous encounters with Doherty, was poised to continue the fightback in the seventh but he missed a tricky green to a middle pocket and Doherty sank it from distance to guarantee a 5-2 lead.
Having arrived at the point of no return, Williams started to flow as he put together a 115 clearance which included a superb deep screw to dislodge the final red off the side cushion.
Williams's run is potentially lucrative as it overhauled a run of 109 from Peter Ebdon against Steve Davis earlier in the day as the tournament's highest break and puts him in line for a £15,000 bonus.
However, any thoughts that the Williams century would prove the catalyst for a full scale comeback were quickly dispelled as Doherty fashioned a run of 61 in frame nine to cross the line.
After two sessions, and 4 hours 25 minutes of actual playing time, Davis emerged from a marathon encounter with a 6-4 victory over. Peter Ebdon and will now face Doherty for a place in the final. Ebdon led 2-0 when the match got under way this afternoon but Davis slogged away and was 5-4 ahead when the contest was suspended to accommodate the start of the Doherty-Williams encounter.
When Doherty left the table vacant after repelling the challenge of Williams, Davis and Ebdon returned to belatedly decide who would provide Doherty's next opposition.
Ebdon looked likely to draw level at 5-5 and force a decider but, after making a 60 break, presented Davis with the opportunity to clear up. Despite running out of prime position on a couple of occasions, Davis brought all his vast experience to bear as he snatched the frame in dramatic style with a 39 clearance to black.
"This is my 17th visit to the tournament but even if I was a rookie I couldn't feel any more excited than I do now," said Davis. Davis, at 39 easily the oldest competitor at this year's Masters, will now be hoping to repeat the standard of snooker he produced when whitewashing Doherty 6-0 in the last 16 at Wembley 12 months ago.
If Davis defeats the Dubliner and goes on to capture the title it will be the first time he has on a trophy since the Welsh Open in January 1995.
