YORK will see a clash of giants tomorrow when snooker's two greatest players face a semi-final showdown in the Travis Perkins UK Championship.

And it's seconds out, let me get at him, as far as six times world champion Steve Davis is concerned after his dramatic 9-7 quarter-final victory over Ken Doherty at the Barbican Centre last night gave him a crack at seven times world champion Stephen Hendry.

"Even though Stephen's record against me over a period of years has been invincible I am actually in my best playing shape for ages and fancy having a fight with him, in the nicest possible way," the 48-year-old six times UK winner said of his big match against five times UK king Hendry.

"If someone had told me at the beginning of the week I'd be in the semis I'd have bitten their hand off, but now I'm here I'd like a bit more, thank you very much," said 'Nugget' Davis, who added that he would have preferred to be playing Hendry in the final.

He also revealed that he now has his mind set on reaching the 100th final of his career.

Hendry marched on thanks to a tough 9-7 win over Allister Carter last night. He admitted that he didn't play well but said the important thing was that he is still here in York and has a great chance of winning the tournament.

The world number two also said that he thought Davis's playing performance this week has been a phenomenal achievement.

Davis, 6-1 ahead going into the evening session, survived a determined recovery by the Dubliner, who fought back to 8-4 down and then won three frames in a row. Doherty had chances to take it to a decider, but Davis clinched victory by potting a daring double on the black into the middle pocket.

Potentially decisive breaks by Davis in the second session ended when he got out of position. Doherty kept narrowing the gap, but said later that he lost the match in the first session.

"It was getting nervy towards the end as Ken started to play well and I nearly baulked at it but I got over the line," said Davis. "I didn't have any negative thoughts. I just played the balls. I was immersed in the game and was not really thinking about the outcome."

Hendry saw a 4-1 lead cut to 4-3 as Carter made breaks of 105 (a possible 147 which ended when he ran out of position) and 104, but led 5-3 at the start of the evening session and moved 8-4 ahead aided by two half century breaks. Carter responded with runs of 73, 57 and 61 to trail by only one at 8-7 but Hendry sealed victory with a 64.

Tomorrow's Davis v Hendry match starts at 1.30pm, with the evening session at 7pm. Tickets for both semi-finals and the final are sold out.

Saturday's semi-finalists will be decided tonight when the second two quarter-finals, which began this afternoon, are completed. World number 14 Joe Perry plays UK qualifier Stuart Bingham, from Basildon, and Chinese 18-year-old Ding Junhui takes on Aussie hot-shot Neil Robertson.

Last night's results

Quarter-finals: Steve Davis bt Ken Doherty 9-7, Stephen Hendry bt Allister Carter 9-7.

Today's matches

Quarter-finals (best of 17 frames, start 1.30pm and 6pm): Joe Perry v Stuart Bingham, Ding Junhui v Neil Robertson.

Tomorrow's match

Semi-final (best of 17 frames, start 1.30pm and 7pm): Steve Davis v Stephen Hendry.

The second semi-final is on Saturday.

Updated: 09:58 Thursday, December 15, 2005