World champion Ken Doherty compiled a superb clearance of 83 in the final frame to come from 52-0 behind and beat Steve Davis 5-4 in the quarter-finals of the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge in Derby last night.
Doherty admitted: "I got out of jail because I didn't expect Steve to miss. By right I should already have been back at the hotel, getting changed in readiness to come down and watch the evening game.
"I could have won 5-1, 5-2 or maybe 5-3," added the world number three, also a winner over Davis in the Scottish Open at Aberdeen last week.
Doherty now plays world number two John Higgins, who beat John Parrott 5-4, for a place in Sunday's best-of-17 frames final.
Former world and UK champion Parrott led 4-3 after a break of 112 in the seventh frame but then scored only 15 points in the last two frames.
Stephen Hendry narrowly defended his title by winning a thrilling quarter-final against Jimmy White. World number one Hendry, who recently lost his Scottish Open Trophy to Ronnie O'Sullivan, was in danger of giving up another piece of silverware when he trailed 3-0 and 4-1.
But he refused to give up and recovered to clinch a deciding nine frame on the black.
"I am lucky to be in the next round," said Hendry, who still hasn't lost to the six times world championship runner-up since 1992.
White, a 5-0 winner over Peter Ebdon on Thursday night, was shattered after finishing second best to Hendry again. "I am gutted because I know I had him all over the place. It was a great match but you have never beaten the geezer until the very last ball has disappeared," he admitted.
White had led 46-0 in the eighth frame but ended up missing a brown with Hendry's break of 62 proving crucial.
In the decider White led 34-0 only to miss another crucial shot on the green. The frame was decided, though, on the closing four colours. White was in front 54-36 when Hendry missed the brown into the green pocket.
The ball ran invitingly across the table but White's aim again deserted him as he tried to pot the brown into the yellow bag. Hendry did not need any more invitations and he cleared the last four balls to secure a semi-final with Ronnie O'Sullivan or Mark Williams.
Meanwhile, the former world champion Terry Griffiths yesterday negotiated a truce in the strife within the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) since the summary dismissal of its chief executive, Jim McKenzie, on December 1st.
Griffiths enlisted the support of Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor for a meeting in Derby with the governing body's chairman Rex Williams and his chief critic Ian Doyle, the game's leading manager.
Griffiths had gathered sufficient proxies for next Wednesday's scheduled e.g.m. to hold a balance of power.
Under the new deal there will be no e.g.m. vote to remove Williams and the other directors responsible for McKenzie's dismissal.
In turn the WPBSA will now drop the disciplinary action brought against Stephen Hendry, the world number one having agreed to retract his remark that "the game is poisoned from top to bottom".
