David Gray, the world No30, continued his giant-killing run in the Regal Scottish Open by adding a 5-3 quarter-final victory over Stephen Hendry to his disposals of John Higgins, the world No2, and Mark King, the world No13.
"Once it went scrappy, I lost my focus," said the seven-times world champion, who gave way to frustration with excessively ambitious shot selection which let Gray in for a 53 break to level at 2-2.
Gray also made mistakes, but not as many as Hendry as he made his way through to his first world-ranking semi- final against either Peter Ebdon, the defending champion, or the volatile Australian Quinten Hann.
"You don't expect to play that badly and beat Stephen," said the 23-year-old Gray.
Nigel Bond once the world No5, reached his first semi-final for five years by beating Dave Harold 5-1.
Bond opened with a total clearance of 131 but then had to slog out some lengthy frames before securing a last-four place against either Stephen Lee or Jimmy White.
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