Davis reaches final frontier

Mark Davis is up to a career-high world ranking of 15 after a magnificent performance last weekend.

The St Leonards snooker star reached the final of Players Tour Championship event four - the Paul Hunter Classic - in Furth, Germany.

Davis received a walkover against 70th-ranked Belgian player Bjorn Haneveer in round one on Friday before seeing off six-times World Championship runner-up Jimmy White 4-2 with the help of a 135 break.

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Former Six Reds World Champion Davis then overcame 18th-ranked Jamie Cope by the same score to book his place in the last 16 on Sunday.

The 39-year-old chalked up another 4-2 victory over in-form world no.37 Matthew Selt and played superbly to whitewash 35th-ranked Fergal O’Brien 4-0 in the quarter-finals.

His best win came in the semi-finals when he got the better of 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson 4-2. He lost 4-0, however, in the final against new world no.2 Mark Selby, who put together breaks of 47, 73, 99 and 60.

Davis, who is up to sixth on the PTC order of merit, is due to fly out to China tomorrow (Saturday) for the Shanghai Masters. He will take on reigning World Champion John Higgins in round one on Wednesday.

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Fellow local players Jimmy Robertson and Jamie Walker also performed well in Furth. World no.53 Robertson, from Bexhill, got to the last 16, while Walker came through amateur pre-qualifying to reach round two, upsetting 52nd-ranked Alan McManus 4-2 in round one.

See tomorrow’s Observers for the full articles.