Higgins has been in fine form this season

Higgins had a 5-2 win over Joe Perry, while Doherty beat another Englishman Stephen Lee by the same margin.

The other semi sees China's Ding Jun Hui, a 5-0 winner over Joe Swail of Northern Ireland, face Mark Williams of Wales who beat Scot Stephen Hendry 5-1.

Irishman Doherty rallied from 8-5 down to edge Scotland's Higgins 9-8 in last month's Malta showdown.

"I'm really looking forward to playing John again - let's hope it's another classic," he said.

Higgins, who drubbed Peter Ebdon 5-0 in the second round, was on course for another whitewash when he led Perry 4-0 at the mid-session interval.

But when play re-started, he suddenly began to struggle.

It was more a war of attrition than sublime snooker Ken Doherty

When Higgins missed a red along the top cushion in frame five Perry built a run of 88 before shading the sixth on the colours having fluked a snooker.

Perry also had opportunities to add frame seven but after laying an inch-perfect snooker on the yellow, Higgins efficiently cleared the colours to secure victory.

Doherty was forced to battle hard against Lee, who revitalised his career by capturing the Welsh Open title three weeks ago.

The turning point came in the third frame.

Lee left a red along the top cushion short of the corner pocket and the Irishman eventually potted brown, blue, pink and black to lead 2-1.

Doherty admitted: "It was more a war of attrition than sublime snooker but I've won so I can't grumble.

"It's a good result because Stephen's been playing well lately."

Doherty is now guaranteed to travel to the World Championship at the Crucible next month third in the provisional world rankings having leapfrogged Ronnie O'Sullivan.