Graeme Dott, clearly one to hold a grudge, admitted he was motivated by memories of a defeat five years ago as he trounced Steve Davis 5-1 to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Malta Cup at the Porto Maso Hilton today.
Back in 2000, Dott accused six-times world champion Davis of gamesmanship after losing 10-6 to him in the first round at the Crucible.
Dott was annoyed by his opponent's slow play and the regular and lengthy toilet breaks between frames Davis was taking.
"I suppose it's water under the bridge but I used it to fire me up today," said the diminutive Scot, who earned his clash with Davis by whitewashing Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-0 in only 57 minutes on Thursday.
Dott put together a series of sizeable breaks to pull the rug from under O'Sullivan but was more than content to slog it out against Davis.
"I enjoy the tactical side of the game. I love getting stuck in and my goal is to be the best in that department," said Dott.
The pattern of the match was established in the first frame. After 20 minutes only one ball had been sunk but Dott refused to be bamboozled by the vast safety knowledge of his 47-year-old rival.
Having forced openings he made breaks of 63, 54 and 43 to lead 3-0 and eventually crossed the line by scraping frame six on the blue.
He now faces fellow countryman John Higgins, who he beat 13-10 en route to a surprise appearance in last year's Embassy World Championship final.
Higgins eased through with a 5-2 victory over Australia's Neil Robertson, who prevailed when they clashed in the last 16 of the Welsh Open at Newport two weeks ago.
"I was fired up for this after what happened against Neil last time," said the 1998 world champion, who immediately stamped his authority on the contest with breaks of 104, 93 and 50 to build a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
Higgins, looking for his second title of the season after capturing the British Open title in November, added a 76 break in the fifth frame.
Robertson, already too good for Mark Williams and Jimmy White this week, salvaged the sixth on the black.
But there was to be no full-scale recovery from the 22-year-old left-hander, who did not pot a ball in the seventh as Higgins took a step closer another Malta triumph after lifting the European Open trophy on the Mediterranean island in 1997.
"I've been trying my hardest to get back to where I was and be more professional about the way I go about things," said Higgins, who became a father for the second time last year.
