Ken Doherty continued his excellent form with a hard fought 5-4 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Champions Cup in Brighton this evening. The Dubliner, who went top of Group A following his comprehensive 5-2 victory over Peter Ebdon last night, inflicted a first defeat on O'Sullivan in over a year to take outright control of the group with only Jimmy White standing in his way of reaching the last four.
It was O'Sullivan's first defeat in seven Champions Cup appearances stretching back to last year's tournament and he must now beat Ebdon on Thursday if he is to stand a chance of progressing, but former world champion Doherty is understandably the current favourite.
Doherty staged a remarkable comeback to take the match, coming from 3-1 down after O'Sullivan stormed from the blocks making breaks of 87 and 80 to take control. The Irish number one then levelled at 3-3 and then drew even again at 4-4 with a clearance before taking the decider 101-4 with a 59 break.
Doherty said afterwards: "I have never been one to throw in the towel, but there is a huge difference between how I feel today and how I was 18 months ago. There are no back door entries into this game, you have got to come through the front door and beat all the top players. You cannot expect other players beating them for you. I am a lot more confident now and it's great to get the buzz back again."
Filed by Shane Murray
