Ken Doherty's winning habit remained unbroken in Bangkok yesterday as snooker's man of the moment safely made it through to the semi-finals of the £270,000 Thailand Masters.
The in-form Dubliner recorded his 10th win in 11 matches by beating Scottish giantkiller Billy Snaddon 5-3. "It's great to be in a rich vein of form, but I want to take full advantage of it by capturing the title," said Doherty, runner-up in the Benson and Hedges Masters last month and winner of the Rothmans Malta Grand Prix 11 days ago.
"I couldn't be happier because my old confidence is well and truly back and I am hitting the ball sweetly again," added the 1997 world champion, who had endured an extended period in the wilderness until returning to prominence at the Masters.
Doherty, bidding to become only the eighth player in history to prevail at back-to-back world ranking events, could not have wished for a better start as he efficiently built a 2-0 lead. But Snaddon, responsible for the elimination of John Higgins and Jimmy White in the previous two rounds, then threatened to score a hat-trick of upsets.
Following a lengthy safety exchange on the colours in frame three, Snaddon edged it on the blue, dominated the fourth and erased a 59-point deficit in the fifth.
A run of 63 enabled Doherty to draw level at 3-3, crucially he stole the seventh frame with a last red to black clearance launched by a raking pot from distance and finished in grand manner by fashioning a 109 break.
"Going 4-3 up like that was massively important. If the frame had gone the other way it could well have been a different story", said Doherty. "Obviously I didn't want it to go that close."
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