Davis upsets Williams

It was the highest break of the International Championship so far and put St Leonards-based Davis through to a second round meeting with Marco Fu tomorrow.

“I played really well, although I made a few silly mistakes,” said Davis, who is enjoying the best season of his career so far having won the Six-Red world title in Thailand and reached the semi-finals of the Wuxi Classic and Australian Goldfields Open. “Mark is a legend of the game but he was not at his best today. It’s a long season and you can’t play well in every event.”

World number 20 Davis got off to a flying start by winning the first three frames against fourth-ranked Williams, the world champion in 2000 and 2003, in Chengdu, China.

He took the opener 61-35 with a top break of 35, the second 108-13 thanks to runs of 62 and 31, and the third 86-23 via a 49 and 34. Williams fired in a 74 to clinch the fourth 81-22 and trail 3-1 at the interval.

The Welshman began the fifth with a 57 only for Davis to come back and pinch it 64-58 courtesy of a 50. Williams bagged the next 80-4 with all his points coming in one visit, but a 48 helped Davis clinch frame seven 66-0 for a 5-2 lead.

Williams stayed alive by winning the eighth 71-4 with the help of a 48 and cut his deficit to 5-4 by edging the ninth 60-46 as Davis threatened to close out the match with a 46 break.

But he didn’t have to wait much longer because that aforementioned 138 took him over the line in frame 10 and avenged a 5-1 loss to the same opponent in the Shanghai Masters last month.