All this nonsense of picking players up at the airport and generally making them welcome has got to stop. England's Stephen Lee felt so good about his debut in the £200,000 Benson and Hedges Irish Masters that he proceeded to thrash Ken Doherty 6-1 in the quarterfinals at Goffs, Kill, Co Kildare, yesterday.

It was a crushing set-back for the Dubliner, who was technically defending a title which was stripped from last year's winner, Ronnie O'Sullivan, over drug abuse.

"I never really felt like the champion and I was keen to win the title legitimately," said Doherty, the number one seed this week.

For his part, Lee was grateful to his gift-bearing Irish hosts. "There's nothing worse than being on your own, trying to find your way around a strange venue," said the world number nine. "That's what has made this week so special. People have been so friendly that I feel really relaxed."

And it showed. With a break of 91 in the opening frame, the 23-year-old former English amateur champion, here on a wild card, had Doherty under pressure from the outset. And he went on to produce easily his best performance in four meetings with the Dubliner.

Doherty had won the other three. Indeed a measure of his supremacy over Lee was that he took the opening four frames of their meeting in the second round of the World Championship last year. Now he was prepared to concede: "That's as well as anybody has played against me this season, other than John Higgins."

Though Doherty responded with a break of 83 in the second, both players agreed that the nature of the match effectively hung on a critical, fourth frame. That it went to Lee, for a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval, went particularly hard on Doherty, who had almost stolen it in most improbable circumstances.

Trailing by 55-13 with only one red remaining, Doherty needed two snookers. With the balls favourably positioned down the centre of the table, he proceeded to lay 11 snookers and also took a black off the last red.

For most of this crucial exchange, Lee's lone concession was four points for an in-off. But he opened the door by failing to escape from a snooker on the yellow, close to a bottom pocket. Now capable of winning with a clearance of the colours, Doherty potted the yellow but got poor position on the green.

A few shots later, Lee potted the green, brown and blue to secure a frame which effectively cleared his path to victory. In the wake of a 6-2, first round win over Alan McManus last Tuesday, it was a resounding endorsement of the Englishman's current well being.

But even allowing for the quality of yesterday's performance - he finished the match with a break of 79 in the seventh - the outcome was hugely disappointing for the home crowd. Doherty came here as one of the most consistent competitors of recent months, having contested a final, two semi-finals and two quarterfinals in five tournaments since Christmas.

Meanwhile, Stephen Hendry goes into tonight's meeting with eight-time winner of the title, Steve Davis, mindful of a close call in the China Open in Shanghai two week ago. On that occasion, Davis came from 4-2 down to level at 4-4, but missed a relatively easy blue when apparently set for victory.

"Steve would have potted that blue 99 times out of 100," conceded Hendry yesterday. "I'm expecting another tough match but if I play the way I can, there shouldn't be a problem."

Quarter-finals: Ken Doherty (Ire) lost to Stephen Lee (Eng) 6-1. Frame scores (Doherty first): 7-120, 83-0, 0-81, 31-67, 32,68, 20-70, 2087. Today - Quarter-finals: John Higgins (Sco) v Peter Ebdon (Eng) 2.0 pm; Stephen Hendry (Sco) v Steve Davis (Eng) 7.15.