Julian Shea BBC Sport at Wembley

Doherty beat Davis 6-3

Steve Davis will have to wait a while longer to reach the 100th final of his career after Ken Doherty beat him 6-3.

The duo produced a predictably tactical battle, with the Irishman notching up breaks of 88 and 83 to take a 3-1 lead at the interval.

Doherty was a shot from victory in the seventh, only for Davis to sink the last four colours and win by one point.

A colour clearance won Davis the next but a break of 33 from Doherty killed off hopes of a Davis comeback.

"The crowd were getting on his side and he seemed to thrive on it," said Docherty.

"Steve was always going to make it difficult, so you have to grin and bear it and do what he does and battle.

"It was nice to win and get into the next round but it was far from vintage

I felt good cueing-wise but couldn't make a break to save my life Steve Davis

"Against Ronnie O'Sullivan it will be a better atmosphere. You want to play people like him and Steve here."

Davis admitted the early stages of the match brought a smile to his lips.

"The game had been such a disaster from my point of view that when I won one it was quite humourous," he said.

"It was just one of those days. In the first half I couldn't play.

"The balls weren't reacting right but they calmed down in the second half.

"I felt good cueing-wise but couldn't make a break to save my life. The first frame was good but I went downhill."

Earlier, John Higgins held his nerve to see off a Graeme Dott revival and win 6-4, extending Dott's winless streak at Wembley to three years.

Dott cleared the colours to go 1-0 up but was a spectator as breaks of 70 and 100 saw Higgins go 3-1 up at the break.

It couldn't get much worse Graeme Dott

Dott pulled back two frames back after the restart, winning a long defensive battle for 3-3, and when Higgins took the next frame Dott levelled once more.

A missed pink handed Higgins the ninth and he edged the final frame 68-53.

Higgins said he was his own worst enemy after the tense victory.

"It's hard when you're a sportsman used to winning things and you go a while without it," he said.

"I'm playing well enough for something to happen so maybe I need to forget about it and just go with the flow."

Dott cut a dejected figure after the defeat lengthened his recent poor run of form.

"I didn't want to be here, I didn't practice," he admitted.

"If I had a profession I'd have chucked it in by now.

"It couldn't get much worse - it's totally depressing."

In the quarter-finals, Higgins will face the winner of Stephen Lee and Ding Junhui's match.