KEN DOHERTY'S 9-5 win over Steve Davis, his sixth in their last seven matches, provided the world number seven with a quarter final place in the UK Championship at the Preston Guild Hall and added to his knowledge of the game's tactical arts and crafts.

"Although he's not scoring as he used to, he's still a very hard man to beat," Doherty said of the six times world and UK champion of the 1980s. "Every time you play Steve, you learn something. To win some of the tactical frames I did was a feather in my cap. His safety's still very, very good and it can break you down."

Nothing much went Davis's way as he fell 4-0 behind, losing three of those frames on the pink. He was still 6-2 adrift overnight.

A whitewash and a lead of 40 hinted at a revival, but he went in off from a snooker and had to watch Doherty make a winning 58.

With 67, the 27 year old Dubliner went five up with six to play. "I played well in the World Cup in Bangkok (where he was the driving force when the Republic reached the final) and that's given me a lot of confidence," said Doherty.

Davis, as ever, battled it out to the last, recovering one frame with an 81 break and another in a tight finish with blue and pink; but at 8-5 Doherty brought down the curtain with a frame and match winning 66.

Doherty will now play Canadian number one Alain Robidoux who last night beat Karl Broughton, the world number 57, from Grimsby.

Stephen Hendry, pursuing his third consecutive UK title and fifth in all, dispatched the worlds number 22, Anthony Hamilton, 9-1, assisted by a masterly total clearance of 140 and a break of 104.

Joe Johnson, appearing before the BBC TV cameras for the first time since 1991, recovered from 3-0 down to share the first eight frames of his match with John Parrott.