Just two months ago, Ken Doherty had been relegated from the professional snooker tour after losing out 10-4 to Ben Woollaston in the second round of World Championship qualifying.
After being given an invitational tour card by World Snooker along with Jimmy White at the Crucible during the 40th anniversary celebrations though, the 1997 world champion has just fallen a deciding frame short of reaching his first ranking final in 11 years, as he reached the Riga Masters semi-finals.
Yet, if you take the shoot-out out of the equation, Doherty only completed one victory on tour after the Northern Irish Open at the end of November. This makes the run of four victories in Riga plus two wins in Preston to qualify for the venue in Latvia and the China Championship a somewhat remarkable turnaround.
So, what is different for the 47 year-old? For one the pressure of fighting for tour survival has proved too much for many players before him and will continue to do so for many years. The pressure of fighting for your very livelihood is something that can never be underestimated.
With a two year guarantee thanks to the invitational tour card, this pressure seems to be a distant memory from watching Doherty play. In fact I was at the Preston Guildhall watching Shaun Murphy and Zhang Anda in the China Championship last 128 when the Irishman was taking on Gary Wilson on the next table. In this particular match he seemed to me to be playing with great freedom as if he did not have a single worry in the world, particularly when he made a century break to move 2-1 in front.
Doherty would eventually win this match 5-1 dominating from start to finish and it was very impressive to watch as he rolled back the years in many ways. Even though this qualifier was for the China Championship event, this could have been a pivotal factor in his run to the last four in Latvia. Wilson was again the opposition as he started out on Friday morning at the Riga Masters and with the confidence of three weeks ago still running high he whitewashed the 31 year-old with a high break of 81, and a crucial steal in the first frame setting him on the way.
Next was a match-up with Robin Hull, who had also dropped off tour at the end of last season but had earned a fresh two-year card by his performance on last year's single season money list. This one was on the streamed table and neither player appeared to play their best. Both players missed a few in the opening three frames and Hull took a 2-1 lead before Doherty kicked into gear. A magnificent 126 break levelled the match and the six time ranking event winner found his stride at the right time. Despite a break of 62 from Hull in the sixth frame at 3-2 down, he could not force a decider and after going in-off in a battle on the final black, Doherty was gifted the victory with a bit of good fortune that often comes with a good run.
The man he played on the table next to in Preston was his last 16 opponent as Doherty took on Zhang Anda on Saturday evening. Just as Zhang did on the Saturday night three weeks previously against Murphy, he made a century break in a losing cause, with his 113 break in the second frame not being backed up by anything else of note as Doherty completed another 4-2 victory to march into Sunday's quarter-finals.
A tough match waited here as he played Scotland's Anthony McGill, but McGill did not start the match anywhere near his usually high standards. Doherty rolled quickly into a 3-0 lead, taking the first frame on the pink and pumping his fist to show just what this all means, before a break of 51 in the third put him in complete control. McGill made him sweat by pulling the match back to 2-3 but Doherty avoided the decider and put himself into a first semi-final for six years with a 4-2 triumph.
Another Scotsman awaited in the last four in the shape of Stephen Maguire. This one was a twisting, turning affair right from the off. Maguire led 1-0 and 2-1 before falling 3-2 and 4-3 behind. Doherty had a massive chance to win when Maguire left the last red on in frame eight but he could not take the chance putting it on the far middle jaw, and narrowly missing out on the final in the deciding frame missing the final red again in much more difficult circumstances and leaving it for his opponent to clinch the match.
With £15,000 in his pocket after this weekend and two years on tour guaranteed there is no reason Doherty cannot do similar to what Anthony Hamilton did last year and climb right back up the rankings. He has already said he is going to put 100% in and see what comes of it which is a positive sign for his supporters, and with the lack of pressure producing much freer performances like in the China Championship qualifiers, there could be plenty more great victories to come from the Darling of Dublin.
The next stop for Doherty is to partner Fergal O'Brien and represent the Republic of Ireland in Snooker's World Cup from July 3, and with O'Brien putting some good performances together himself they could be dark horses to go all the way in Wuxi.
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