Ken Doherty reached the Embassy World Championship quarter-finals for a seventh time in eight years in Sheffield last night. But the Dubliner made hard work of his Scottish opponent Greame Dott. The former world title holder knocked out Dott 13-12 after nine hours and 13 minutes of play, including a 43-minute deciding frame, making it easily the longest match of the tournament so far.
Despite that marathon contest, Doherty must return to the table at 10 o'clock this morning to play John Higgins in his last eight play-off.
"I'm shattered," agreed the world number five. "But I'm just trying to give the punters value for money. How will I relax tonight? Maybe have a hot bath for an hour.
"There was so much pressure and tension out there," added Doherty, who faced potential elimination when he trailed 6-1 and 7-2. "But I should have won 13-10. In the end Graeme was looking quite confident and I'm glad I fell over the line.
"That match is history now and hopefully I can play a lot better against John. I will certainly need to if I have any aspirations of winning the tournament."
Doherty started the day faced by a 9-7 deficit but took the first four frames of the final session to gain a commanding position at 11-9. Dott pinched the 21st frame for 11-10 but Doherty knocked in a half-century to move 12-10 up. Dott came back strongly. He levelled at 12-12 as Doherty scored only nine points.
It meant a fourth successive deciding frame for Doherty at The Crucible after his first round win over Shaun Murphy and last season's close encounters against Mark King and Stephen Hendry.
Paul Hunter completed the last eight line-up with his crushing 13-6 victory over Matthew Stevens.
Hunter needed just 45 minutes to put the Welshman out of the competition after resuming with a 12-4 lead. The Englishman inflicted maximum punishment during the second session when he claimed six of the eight available frames, having started the day 6-2 up.
Stevens added respectability to the scoreline by taking the first two frames of the evening, including a break of 101. But Hunter knew it was only delaying the inevitable.
He said: "It was only a matter of time before I got a chance. It was nice to have a 6-2 lead after the first session. And to be honest I would have settled to share the second 4-4.
"But I took that 6-2 as well and Matthew had a mountain to climb."
Hunter faces a tougher prospect today as he faces defending champion Peter Ebdon in their quarter-final joust.
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