Missed opportunity for ace Davis

Mark Davis squandered a golden opportunity to reach his first ever ranking event semi-final.

The St Leonards snooker player led 3-0 and 4-1 before being edged out 5-4 by Jamie Burnett in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters last Friday morning.

Davis, the world no.20, was on fire in the opening stages, rattling in breaks of 102, 84 and 83 to take the first three frames with Burnett potting just a solitary red in the third.

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He should have made it 4-0 when he opened the next with a 36 en route to a 40-point lead, but missed a couple of chances and Burnett came back to take it to give himself hope.

Davis seemed to be losing his way during a scrappy fifth frame littered with mistakes, but eventually produced a superb clearance to leave himself one away from victory.

The 38-year-old began the sixth with a 33, but took on a tricky green rather than roll up behind it and his subsequent miss let in Burnett to compile a fine 65 for 4-2.

Burnett, ranked 47, played a good seventh frame to get within one and a missed red to the middle from Davis early in the eighth enabled Burnett to knock in a 90 for 4-4.

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The decider was probably the most important frame either man had ever played so it was always going to be a nervy affair and so it proved.

Davis led 26-13 and 40-18, but caught a safety too thick and Burnett took advantage to go 50-41 ahead before potting the final pink at the second attempt to win a match that at more than one stage he looked out of.

It was, nevertheless, a fantastic tournament for Davis having beaten 11th-ranked Marco Fu 5-4 in the first round and 5th-ranked Stephen Maguire 5-3 in the second after coming through the qualifiers.

The 2009 Six Reds World Champion will be hoping for another good run in the World Open which gets underway next weekend in Glasgow.

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