KEN DOHERTY staged a tremendous fightback yesterday to end the opening session of his eagerly awaited world snooker championship quarter-final level with John Higgins at 4-4.

The match between Higgins and Doherty looked the match of the day after both reached the last eight with scintillating second round victories.

And early on it was Higgins who produced the higher standard, winning the first three frames without needing to hit the heights reached in his 13-5 rout of Dominic Dale on Monday.

The world number two cashed in after Doherty, first in among the balls in all three frames, failed to make the most of his chances and left his opponent the opportunity to clear up.

But Doherty, who turned in a vintage performance when trouncing Steve Davis 13-3 in the second round, got off the mark in the fourth frame and continued the good work after the 15-minute interval.

The Dubliner reduced his deficit to one with runs of 33 and 41 then drew level by snatching a crucial sixth frame, storming back from 58 points down to win on the black.

The final two frames of the session were shared to leave the match perfectly poised going into this morning's session.

Stephen Hendry's legendary powers of recovery came to the fore again last night when he turned a two-frame deficit into a two-frame advantage against Darren Morgan.

The world number one's crown looked to be wobbling slightly as Morgan went 5-3 up, after the first session but Hendry was much more himself last night and won six of the eight frames to lead 9-7.

In the other quarter-final Welshman Lee Walker still has realistic hopes of becoming a surprise semi-finalist after finishing his second session with 14th seed Alain Robidoux 9-7 down.