Dubliner Ken Doherty's dreams of claiming the Irish Masters title lay in tatters tonight as he was dumped out of the competition 6-2 by Mark King.
Despite a poor start to the match, Doherty had recovered to tie matters at 2-2 at the mid-session interval
However, a sterling performance from the Essexman saw him take the deciding four frames 57-49, 47-38, 69-65, 75-0.
World number 22 King and now faces Peter Ebdon or Australian Quinten Hann; the second semi-final is set to start at 7pm.
Afer the game, 1997 champion Doherty was disappointed in failing to reach his first final of the season.
"I made crucial mistakes at crucial times and that's what swayed the match
for him," he said.
"I've got to look at the week as a whole and try to take out the positives,
but this was a good chance to get to the final."