Davis through to semi-finals

Mark Davis is through to the semi-finals of snooker’s Australian Goldfields Open.
Mark Davis is through to the Australian Goldfields Open semi-finals following a 5-4 victory over Stuart BinghamMark Davis is through to the Australian Goldfields Open semi-finals following a 5-4 victory over Stuart Bingham
Mark Davis is through to the Australian Goldfields Open semi-finals following a 5-4 victory over Stuart Bingham

The St Leonards cueman won 5-4 in a high quality quarter-final against Stuart Bingham today (Friday) to set up a last four showdown against home favourite Neil Robertson tomorrow from 10am BST.

World number 17 Davis and 11th-ranked Bingham produced no less than 10 breaks of 50 or more in the nine frames at Bendigo Stadium - and there was never more than one frame between them.

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Bingham, who won this title in 2011, compiled runs of 60, 67, 66 and 56, while Davis knocked in 58, 66, 96, 61 and, from 4-3 down, 53 and 50 to win the last two frames.

Davis, who now has the chance to reach the final of a ranking event for the first time, told worldsnooker.com: “The standard was good, there were only a few balls missed.

“In the last frame I left him a long red which he had to go for - if he had potted it he probably would have won. But he missed and left me perfect. So it was all on that shot really, even though I still had to make sure I took the balls to win.

“It doesn’t get any tougher than playing Neil in Australia, he is the man to beat and has been for a while. I’m playing well and I’ll enjoy it. I’ve beaten Neil a few times and if I can do it again, I will fancy winning the tournament.”

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Although Robertson is the world number two and won the Wuxi Classic in China last weekend, Davis boasts a good recent record against the Australian break-building machine.

Davis beat Robertson in the final of the Six-Reds World Championship and General Cup last September, and was a 5-1 winner when they met in round two of the Australian Goldfields Open two years ago.

It’s the fourth time that the 41-year-old Davis - who beat Dominic Dale 5-3 in round one and Shaun Murphy by the same score in round two - has reached a full ranking event semi-final. The other last four tie, incidentally, is between Judd Trump and Xiao Guodong.

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