Ken Doherty is through to his third semi final of the season after overcoming Scotland's Alan McManus 5-3 in the Scottish Open. Doherty has enjoyed some titanic struggles down the years with McManus and was surprised to find himself 3-0 in front with breaks of 65, 49 and 88.
But McManus, responsible for the 5-1 defeat of Ronnie O'Sullivan yesterday, came back strongly to level at 3-3 without ever threatening to overwhelm the Irishman under a barrage of big breaks.
In contrast, Doherty scored heavily throughout the game, including vital runs of 64 and 90 to prevent the Glaswegian scoring a point in the final two frames.
"The most pleasing thing was how well I played at the end," said the 33-year-old world number five. "You've got to be scoring heavily and punishing players to win things these days. You can't rely on safety play to win you games anymore."
In this afternoon's other quarter final tie Mark Selby reached his first ever ranking tournament semi-final in Britain tonight after another top draw performance. Selby, who qualified for the last four of the 2002 China Open in Shanghai, will play Doherty for a place in Sunday's best of 17 frames final after a 5-3 defeat of Ali Carter.
And Selby's performances throughout the rest of the season have guaranteed him a place in the top 32 next term. "That was my aim before the start of the season," he said. "And because I've already done enough to get in, I can go out and play relaxed snooker.
"I certainly believe I've played better than I did in Shanghai," added Selby, who knocked out Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Far East last year. "I've never played Ken before but you don't win the world championship if you aren't a very good player."
Filed by Johnny Proby
