Breaking news: Davis beats Murphy

St Leonards-based Davis won 5-3 against Shaun Murphy - who won the sport’s blue riband event in 2005 - in a second round clash at Bendigo Stadium this lunchtime (Thursday).

Fresh off a confidence-boosting 5-3 win over Dominic Dale in round one on Tuesday featuring a 139 break, Davis took the opening frame on the black thanks to a 41 clearance after Murphy had gone ahead with a break of 56.

Davis, 41, also won the second with a best effort of 40 and looked set to go 3-0 up when he scored the first 53 points of frame three only for world number seven Murphy to pinch it by a point after clearing the colours.

World number 17 Davis came surging back, though, with a run of 80 at the start of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead at the interval and a 67 in the first frame after the resumption moved him within one of victory.

A 54 helped Murphy claim frame six to stay alive and he again cleared the colours to edge frame seven after Davis had come so close to victory. Davis didn’t concede a point in frame eight, though, as he closed out the match with a top run of 45.

Reigning six-reds world champion Davis - a semi-finalist in the Australian Goldfields Open two years ago - will face 11th-ranked Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals from 10am tomorrow.