Davis rues failing to build on dream start


The St Leonards cueman led 4-0 against Ding Junhui before the Chinese superstar roared back to 5-5 and eventually triumphed 10-7 yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.
Leading 4-3 overnight, Davis extended that to 5-3 by making a 106 break in frame eight – amazingly, his first century in 10 Crucible Theatre appearances.
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Hide AdDing then played up for the blue while on 97 in the next – not realising he was on course for a maximum break – but that spurred him on to win six of the next eight frames and book a second round clash with John Higgins.
But Davis believes the damage was done in Monday’s first session. “4-0 was a good lead to start with, but I probably didn’t take advantage when Ding was struggling,” explained the world no.18.
“Even though he started scoring better in the last three frames yesterday, I still had chances in most frames, so to only be 4-3 up was disappointing.
“My safety wasn’t tight enough all match and I didn’t score heavily enough either. I kept running out of position and failing to win games in one visit which you can’t afford to do against these guys.”
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Hide AdDefeat means Davis’ season is now at an end and the 42-year-old fears time is fast running out for him to claim a maiden major title.
“I wanted to win a tournament this year and it hasn’t happened which is disappointing – I don’t know how many more chances I am going to get to win one,” added Davis.
“I’ve been pretty consistent, but nothing spectacular, as usual. Compared to the majority of my career it’s a lot better, but when you keep getting to quarter-finals, you want to push on.
“It can get you down a little bit – I’ll work on a few bits of my game and maybe next year I can get over the line. You need the ‘B’ game to beat the big guys when you’re not at your best and at the moment I haven’t got that.”
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