Stevens to meet Hendry
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ByEurosport
Published 20/08/2005 at 12:00 GMT
World number four Matthew Stevens recovered from a 1-4 deficit at the Northern Ireland Trophy in Belfast to beat Australian Neil Robertson 6-4 for a place in his third major final. Stevens will play seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry, a 6-3 winner
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Last season Stevens lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Irish Masters final then suffered at the hands of world number 46, Shaun Murphy, in the World Championship final at the Crucible in May.
"That's three finals out of four for me...it would be nice to win one!" said Stevens afterwards.
"It's always nice to get to a final and it's a good start to the season.
"At 4-1 down I knew I had to win five of the last six frames and I was sulking a bit. But Neil started missing a few and I dug deep."
Stevens and Robertson exchanged the first two frames, before 23-year-old Robertson moved into a 4-1 lead with breaks of 84 and 56 before nerves afflicted him.
Robertson scored just 27 points in the last five frames as Stevens rattled home runs of 37, 105, 55, 49, 73 and 37.
Stevens, however, had some words of consolation for his opponent: "Neil's long potting is fantastic, he cues very straight and he scores quickly.
"I'm sure he will be in the top 16 next season."
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