Lines beats former world champion Doherty to reach York

Yorkshireman Lines reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship two years ago, when Mark Williams was among his scalps, and booked a place in the televised stages again with a brilliant win against former World Champion Doherty.

Breaks of 60, 64 and 60 helped Doherty go 4-1 up, but World No 56 Lines crucially cleared from yellow to pink to win both the sixth and seventh frames. Doherty went 5-3 ahead before Lines knocked in runs of 109 and 47 to get to 5-5.

A nervy decider, which lasted 42 minutes, came down to the colours, and once again Lines cleared from yellow to pink to win it. The Yorkshireman will now face Martin Gould in the first round proper at the York Barbican.

“There was a lot at stake,” said Lines, who works at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

“I am delighted to get to the televised stages. It’s been a good competition for me. I am really looking forward to it, and hopefully have a few people along to support me.”

There was no rest for Lines, who after a late finish in the qualifiers in Gloucester, then travelled to Antwerp, Belgium, yesterday for a Players Tour Championship event.

Joining Lines in York will be Marco Fu, who gained much-needed ranking points with a 6-5 defeat of Anthony Hamilton.

Hong Kong’s Fu, who reached the Masters final just 10 months ago but has since slipped to No 29 in the world, came from 3-0 down to 4-3 up with top breaks of 71 and 68. Hamilton won the next two before an 80 from Fu made it 5-5. A run of 55 put Hamilton in charge of the decider, only for 2008 UK finalist Fu to make an outstanding 54 clearance in order to snatch victory.

Former World and UK Champion Peter Ebdon lost 6-3 to Robert Milkins, while Adrian Gunnell beat Joe Perry 6-4.

Ricky Walden started with 97 and 108 against Jamie Jones and went on to win 6-2, while Joe Jogia saw off Jamie Cope 6-3 and Ryan Day made a 127 in beating Jamie Burnett 6-0.

UK Championship first round: R McLeod v J Higgins, S Hendry v S Maguire, S Davis v R O’Sullivan, D Dale v J Trump, M Davis v D Junhui, M Campbell v M Stevens, M Selt v G Dott, T Ford v N Robertson, J Jogia v M Williams, R Walden v S Lee, P Lines v M Gould, Li Yan v S Murphy, R Milkins v A Carter, A Gunnell v M Allen, M Fu v S Bingham, R Day v M Selby.