Snooker:Provisional world number one Ken Doherty became the highest-ranked player to bow out of this year's Maplin UK Championship when he lost 9-6 to Joe Perry in York tonight.
The Irishman, who before this tournament had been on course to move up from his current number two position, won only one of the last seven frames against a man who is a specialist in this event.
Perry has reached the semi-finals for the last two years and is now into the last eight, in which he will meet John Higgins.
Resuming with a 5-3 overnight advantage, Doherty made the only three century breaks of the match but otherwise struggled to score heavily as Perry gradually got on top.
"Joe shut me out for three frames," said the 1997 world champion.
"He played really well tonight, and I missed a few chances. I should have gone 6-3 up — and if I had it would have been different.
"Things just weren't happening for me. But sometimes that's the way it goes, and it makes things pretty difficult."