Steve Davis rolled back the years to beat Mark King 10-9 in a late thriller in the Betfred.com World Championship at the Crucible.
Nugget goes the distance in 30th visit to Crucible
Steve Davis rolled back the years to beat Mark King 10-9 in a late thriller in the Betfred.com World Championship at the Crucible.
Six-time world champion Davis had fought back from 6-4 down to lead 8-6, but then King ensured the game would go the full 19-frame distance.
The final frame swung backwards and forwards for nearly 40 minutes, but eventually it was the 52-year-old, in his 30th year at the Crucible, who fought his way through.
A clearly jubilant Davis was roared on by the Sheffield fans as he won his first match at the venue for four years, and now goes on to play reigning champion John Higgins in the second round.
King took the first frame of the night to stretch his advantage to 6-4, but Davis found something extra and went on a run that really had King on the ropes.
On a roll
The scoring was not brilliant but Davis was proving his worth as he took four frames on the bounce to move into an 8-6 lead, and King was clearly flustered.
The left-hander managed to regain his composure though, although he was helped by Davis mixing in some simple errors with the glorious long pots he was pulling out.
King levelled at 8-8, but a brilliant 91 from The Nugget took him within a frame of victory, only for that inconsistency to return and King levelled to take the match all the way.
A nervy final frame went on and on, with both men missing when in the balls, before a lengthy period of safety had both men sweating over every shot.
Davis finally got the breakthrough, and a long red to the corner saw the veteran pump his first in raw emotion hardly seen from him during his spell of domination in the 80s.
Still it was not over though, and King got one of the three snookers he needed on the green, and then tried again on the pink, but when King then potted the pink going for the snooker the Crucible erupted as Davis went through.
Graeme Dott dominated the first session of his 2006 final rematch against Peter Ebdon, as he emerged with a 7-2 lead after the opening exchanges.
Ebdon, who lost out in that final to Crucible champion Dott, won the opener with a break of 50, but the Scotsman responded in great style with a 105 levelling the match.
Breaks of 53 and 57 saw Dott go on a roll and clean up five frames on the spin to lead 5-1 before Ebdon finally got back on the board, but Dott took the next two to move within three frames of the second round.
