Davis blasts brilliant 139 break

The St Leonards cueman compiled a marvellous 139 break en route to a 5-3 victory over Dominic Dale in round one of the Australian Goldfields Open.

Davis - a semi-finalist in the same event two years ago - lost the opening frame to a break of 73 from his opponent, but proceeded to reel off the next four to grab the match by the scruff of the neck.

The world number 17 began frame three with a run of 58 and compiled that 139 - the highest break of the tournament so far - in the fourth.

Welsh world number 26 Dale fashioned a 109 in the sixth and also won the seventh to get back to 4-3, but Davis sealed victory in the eighth with a best effort of 44.

The result went some way to avenging Davis’s 10-5 defeat to the same opponent at the World Championship in April and set up a second round meeting with Shaun Murphy or Jack Lisowski on Thursday.