Steve Davis survived a scare to reach his 100th final by beating Stephen Hendry 9-6 at the UK Championship. The Englishman came into the evening session 7-1 ahead, but he began to wobble under severe pressure in York.
Playing below his best, Hendry did just enough to close the gap to 8-4 and then rattled in a superb break of 130.
The Scot took the 14th frame as well and was on course to take the next, but he missed an easy black and Davis clinched the match with a cool 66.
In a battle of snooker legends, breaks were at a premium early on, but Davis showed more tactical nous to move into a commanding lead.
 |  I owed him one - I owed him about 30 actually |
Without sealing frames in one visit, he dictated proceedings with his tight safety play, leaving Hendry scratching around for difficult long pots.
Hendry got into the match after the break and started to find his usual fluidity among the balls.
But just as he looked set to close to 8-7, he failed to sink a simple black and Davis needed no second invitation to progress to the final.
The "Nugget" now faces Ding Junhui or Joe Perry in the final.
"It's a double bonus for me - I've reached 100 finals and beaten my nemesis," said Davis.
"I owed him one. I owed him about 30 actually. This afternoon I've never seen Stephen play so badly against me or against anyone.
| I changed my mind about what shot to play and it's a fatal mistake to make |
"He didn't look like potting a ball and it was a shock.
"I played a really great frame to go 8-2 up and everything was going nicely, but I botched chances in the next two and then Stephen started playing better.
"I had a couple of smelly shots that were missable and I left him in to score big each time."
Hendry revealed he had been indecisive when he missed the key black.
"I changed my mind about what shot to play and it's a fatal mistake to make," said the world number two.
"I fancied winning the match in the end because I had started to play better, but Steve deserved to win."
MMIX
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