KEN DOHERTY reached the final of the world snooker championship here in remarkable fashion last night by beating French Canadian Alain Robidoux 17-7 and made history in the process.

In a dramatic last session, Doherty, who was leading by 11 frames to five from the morning's activity, made short work of Robidoux to win his place in the final and thus make tomorrow's scheduled session redundant.

By any standards, this was an astonishing performance. In the earlier part of the day, both players were nervous and slow in building breaks. But the cushion which Doherty had provided himself with - a cushion of no fewer than six frames - allowed him to relax to the point of carelessness in the evening session.

Doherty realised full well that he needed six of the eight frames, to rule out the possibility of stretching the match out until today. He was given some cause for concern in the first frame, which Robidoux won by 97-1; but Doherty was soon back into his stride in the second frame, which he took 60-25.

The first sign that Doherty was in the right mental condition for the challenge ahead was when he potted a brilliant red out of a cluster to give himself some space.

And he later earned the applause of the crowd when he pointed out to the referee that he had played a foul shot.

But he didn't allow these little matters to upset him, and although he lost the 19th frame 48-62, he won the next five frames on the trot to wipe out any hope that Robidoux might have had of extending the match.

Although the standard of snooker in general was not awe inspiring, Doherty ended on a very high note indeed with breaks of 74 and 73 to win the last two frames. On both occasions Robidoux had shown signs of making a battle out of it but minor errors on his part allowed Doherty back to the table and, in the last frame, when it seemed that a Saturday showdown was beckoning with Robidoux 60-0 ahead, Doherty swept on to the table and rattled up 73 points to win.

The young man from Ranelagh was in chirpy mood afterwards and accepted the historic fact drawn to his attention by British reporters, that he was the first player from the Irish Republic to achieve this distinction.

"Of course I am aware of this. Alex Higgins and Den is Taylor have both won this title for Ireland, and it is now my ambition to be the third Irishman to do so.

"I am delighted about the outcome and I am sorry for Alain. We am good friends. But in a situation like that, you have to be ruthless and I was feeling better all the time, particularly in those last two frames.

"I played well in the morning, my safety play was good; but it was a bit scrappy in the earlier part of the evening session and I wanted to open up. I felt more relaxed. I knew that when I had an 11-5 lead going into the last session, that I would have to be dreadful altogether if I was to fail," he said.

"Towards the end I was really enjoying things and I am delighted that I have a day off tomorrow. I will have a bit of a lie in and then watch Manchester United on the box.

"I am really not concerned about who I have to play. Steve Hendry and James Wattana are both extremely good players and I know that whichever it is I am not going to find it easy. Every match is different, but I think that I am back to my best farm at the moment and I am enjoying it immensely.

"I would hate to get beaten after all of this and I would desperately love to win. I always thought I bad the ability and I am going to give it my best shot on Sunday and Monday," he said.

Having come into the press conference straight away from his extraordinary victory, Doherty said that he didn't have time up until then to speak to his family.

"My mother's blood pressure has been going up every day and I am afraid that with Sunday and Monday to come she might end up in hospital. Some other people in Ranelagh might end up in a different kind of hospital, judging by the amount of celebrating they will be doing tonight and over the weekend.

"I was feeling the strain myself earlier on today. I have been here for 17 days and it was getting a little bit much for me. But now know that it has been worth all the effort and that the hard work I have put in has borne fruit.

"Even if I don't win and I am not talking about losing I know I have had a good tournament and I look forward very much to the final against either Steve or James, both of whom I know very well and who I respect as great professionals," he said.

Meanwhile, Wattana is threatening to spike the widely predicted showdown between Hendry and Doherty. Wattana clawed his way back from 7-3 down to end the second session of his semi-final against Hendry level at 8-8.

Hendry led 5-3 overnight and put further daylight between himself and his rival when he won the opening two frames of the afternoon. His break of 101 in the 10th frame of the match was the 33rd at the Crucible this year and the Scot's 41st of the season.

But Wattana, not renowned for his ability to stage inspired comebacks, proved he had plenty of fight left in him by taking the next two frames. The world number 12 pulled back to 7-4 down with a break of 31 and then stunned Hendry by knocking in a 45 having trailed by 42 points to snatch a frame notable for a number of missed chances from both players.

Hendry restored his three frame lead with a run of 49, but that proved to be his last hurrah as Wattana ended the session by showing the sort of form that ended John Parrott's chances in the previous round.

He wiped out his deficit with a run of three consecutive frames, the first of which was a scrappy affair with a Wattana effort of 30 the highest single contribution.

But there was nothing ragged about the Thai's break of 82 in the next and he then drew level thanks to one piece of brilliance and a large measure of luck.