Stevens and Robertson into final

Stevens has slipped to 17th in the world rankings

Matthew Stevens will meet Neil Robertson in the final of the Bahrain Championship after beating Stephen Hendry 6-4 in the semi-final.

The 31-year-old reached his first ranking final in three years by winning a three-and-a-half hour match which both players admitted was "scrappy".

"Apart from two frames where I made centuries it wasn't that pretty but it doesn't matter how you win," he said.

Australian Robertson beat Mark Allen 6-4 to earn his place in the final.

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Stevens started off against Hendry in good form, making breaks of 120 and 116 in the first three frames.

Hendry hit back with a century of his own and pulled back to 4-4, having twice been two frames adrift.

But Stevens recaptured his form, making a break of 61 in the next frame to lead 5-4, and completed the win at the first attempt by taking the 10th frame.

The Welshman, whose last ranking tournament final was the 2005 World Championship, said his return to form was down to practising more than ever.

"It's been a tough couple of years," he said. "I have lost a lot of matches but I have worked hard this year. I started practising earlier than usual in June this time.

"I have lost a couple of qualifiers but have got straight back on the practice table. Maybe last year I would have lost a couple of matches and had a couple of weeks off."

World number 10 Robertson lost the first two frames of his match against Allen but hit back with four frames on the bounce to lead 4-2.

Allen got two back at 4-3 and 5-4 but just could not manage to secure what would have been a maiden final appearance.

"He made two great breaks and got off to great start," said Robertson. "I was nervous but then made two breaks to level at 2-2.

"I kept playing pretty well from there. I had a 70 and an 80 to go 4-2 up and managed to hold. I fell over the line."