Davis clings to tense victory

SNOOKER / UK Championship: Steve Davis became the oldest finalist in a ranking tournament for 19 years last night when he clung on for a tense 9-6 victory over Stephen Hendry at the UK Championship in front of a full house at York's Barbican Centre.

The 48-year-old looked home and dry when he led 8-2 but had to resist a brave fightback from his one-time arch-rival in their emotionally-charged semi-final before securing a meeting with either Chinese youngster Ding Junhui or world number 14 Joe Perry in tomorrow's showdown.

Hendry, who succeeded Davis as king of the green baize at the turn of the 1990s, was woefully out of sorts in the opening session and could win only one of the first eight frames.

But he found his form with a vengeance last night when his back was against the wall and appeared set to make it 8-7 when he held a 59-point lead in frame 15, only to miss the black off its spot and let in Davis for a match-winning clearance of 66.

Playing easily his best snooker for some time this week - perhaps ever - Davis has rekindled memories of the era when he dominated the sport, and not since 53-year-old Rex Williams was runner-up to Jimmy White at the 1986 Grand Prix has a more senior competitor reached a major final.

In the quest to secure his 100th career final appearance everything went Davis' way from the start as Hendry, with his first shot of the match, missed a long red and the cue ball ran through into the pocket.

The six-time world champion did not have to make a half-century break to race 5-0 ahead, Hendry then getting off the mark before Davis unleashed some of the superb potting which carried him to success over title-holder Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty, knocking in a 57 and an 87 to lead 7-1.

Although the 36-year-old from Perthshire at least ensured there would be a mid-session interval by winning three of last night's first four frames, he was still way off his best and at one point tapped his forehead in frustration after running out of position.

But after the break Hendry finally produced his true form and a break of 130 made it 8-5, he took the next to raise the prospect of an amazing comeback and was in control of the 15th frame before the costly miss which ultimately ended his chance of matching Davis' record of six UK titles.

"It's a double bonus for me - I've reached 100 finals and I've beaten my nemesis," said Davis. "I owed him one. I owed him about 30 actually.

"Leading 7-1 was a dream come true and I had to pinch myself not to start thinking about having a day off before the final because I knew he would come out tonight and give it a good go.

"I played a really great frame to go 8-2 up and everything was going nicely, but I botched chances in the next two and then Stephen started playing better. I had a couple of smelly shots that were missable and I left him in to score big each time. I thought it was sure to go 8-7 and I was just hoping for a chance".

Hendry revealed he had been indecisive when he missed the key black and admitted he had blown his chance of victory early in the match. "I changed my mind about what shot to play and it's a fatal mistake to make," said the world number two.

SEMI-FINAL: (best of 17 frames): S Davis (Eng) bt S Hendry (Sco) 9-6 (Frame scores: 0-94 52-55 53-64 0-67 36-78 72-1 (52) 24-67 (57) 4-87 (87) 65-23 27-75 (75) 65-16 61-39 130-0 (130) 76-25 59-66 (66)).