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Ken Doherty booked his place in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship with a close fought victory over Mark King.

In a dramatic game, Doherty opened up an 11-7 lead after recovering from being 6-2 down in Friday's play.

But King refused to concede defeat and twice drew the scores level at 11-11 and then 12-12 to set up a thrilling finale.

But Doherty's class and experience ultimately proved decisive as King was forced to concede the deciding frame.

The 1997 champion will now face either Stephen Hendry or Anthony Davies in the quarter-finals.

Doherty said afterwards that he regarded King as the better player during their encounter.

"It was a really tough match. He played some really tough match snooker. He surprised me a lot how good a safety game he had," said the Irishman.

"In the last session he had a good chance at coming back at me and it was getting really tense in the last couple of frames."

King was upset about the way he gave away his four-frame lead.

"It was a strange old match. In the first session I hit the ball really well. But I lost a lot of close frames in the second.

"To be 9-7 down really upset me. I went to the gym in my hotel and took a lot of aggression out of myself and it nearly paid off."