John Higgins will meet Matthew Stevens in an Embassy World Championship semi-final to savour tomorrow as one player from each of the four home nations remained in contention at the Crucible tonight.
On the day when Ronnie O'Sullivan's last-eight victim Peter Ebdon described him as "the Mozart of snooker", Higgins and Stevens showed they are also worthy pretenders to the crown.
Second seed Higgins rattled in four centuries today as he extinguished the challenge of Ireland's Ken Doherty, recording a 13-6 victory over a man many thought capable of repeating his 1997 triumph.
Higgins, who resumed 5-3 up on Doherty, always had the edge on the world number seven and reeled off five successive frames towards the end to give the result a slightly flattering look.
Both players agreed that frame 16, which Higgins pinched with a clearance of 42, had proved the turning point.
"Ken was unlucky not to make it 9-7 rather than 10-6 and I had to play as well as I can," said the 'Wizard of Wishaw'.
"He hung in there and I'm delighted with the way I played. I'll have to keep producing that if I'm to reach the final."
Doherty had started the match well and led 3-1, but from then on he was overwhelmed as everything went the way of the Scot.
"I lost three or four frames on the pink or black and that was crucial," said the Dubliner.
"I was disappointed to go 5-3 down but John played really well and every time he got in he seemed to make a big break.
"He's got a great all-round game and if he continues to play like that he will be very hard to beat."
The job of stopping Higgins now falls to Stevens, who resumed 11-5 up on Hendry this morning and prevented his opponent from launching any sort of comeback by winning the two frames he needed with little trouble.
Surprisingly, Hendry was the most expansive he has been all tournament afterwards considering the nature of his defeat and offered no excuses.
"I effectively lost the match last night and although you're not exactly resigned to going out, I knew it would have taken an incredible performance with my back against the wall," said Hendry. PA