Ken Doherty produced a sensational comeback to beat Welsh prospect Michael White at the Coral UK Championship in York.
Former world champion Doherty, now 45, trailed one of the sport’s big hopes 3-0 but hit back superbly to claim a thrilling 6-4 victory.
Doherty is a three-time finalist at the second-biggest tournament on the calendar, but has never got to lift the trophy - but in his 25th season as a professional that dream is still alive this year.
The world number 40 from Dublin will now take on recent International Championship winner Ricky Walden for a place in the last 16. And he followed up the three centuries in his first-round win with further breaks of 73, 109 and 52 at the Barbican Centre.
Doherty said: “It wasn’t looking so hot at 3-0 down – but I like a comeback and giving value for money! But I won an important fourth frame, and that settled me down a bit.
“And then I knew if I got going I could put pressure on him, and could have gone 5-3 up – but he is A tough player, very clever and aggressive. I just had to keep myself together.
“And I drew on how well I played in the first match here. It was nice to play well in one of the major events, and basically not bottle it.
“I have had a lot of good matches here at the Barbican over the years, and this is one of the ones you really want to do well in.
“Every match you have to treat it like a final and Ricky Walden is a man in form in the next match, but I have nothing to lose and if I play like I have been he won’t like playing me either.”
Mark Allen
Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen showed more of the form that has taken him to four finals this season already with a 6-0 thrashing of Belgium’s Luca Brecel. The 19-year-old Brecel has struggled with the huge expectation placed on his shoulders after being tipped for great things as a child prodigy.
And world number six Allen, 28, who reached the final of the UK in 2011, kept things very tight to set up the prospect of another good run at a major event.
Allen said: “I am happy with my results this season but I am not happy about losing three finals. It is better than coming here after losing in the first round every event.
“But there is still stuff to work on, getting to four finals this season doesn’t give me any God-given right to get to the later stages here.
“But I know if I keep playing the way I am playing and can find a little improvement here and there then I am going to be hard to stop.
“I played pretty well, I didn’t do anything brilliant but I also didn’t do anything silly. I had a gameplan to not take any silly shots on against Luca.
“I didn’t want him building up confidence, he is a very streaky player and if he got a few frames on the board he would be hard to stop.
“I turned a few tricky chances down early on, took my chances in the balls and made it very hard for him.
“It was about me being careful with my lead, and I was on my guard even at 4-0 up, I know he can reel off frames quickly and I didn’t want to give him a sniff.”
