Solid start for snooker star Davis

The St Leonards talent made it through to round three of Players Tour Championship event one at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield on Monday.

Davis, the world no.19, overcame amateur James McGouran 4-2 in round one before registering a very good 4-1 victory over 22nd-ranked Barry Hawkins, who he often travels to events with, in round two.

But he was edged out 4-3 by 17th-ranked Stuart Bingham in round three. Essex cueman Bingham, who was a frame away from the quarter-finals of last season’s World Championship, knocked in a break of 115 along the way.

Bexhill-based world no.53 Jimmy Robertson was edged out 4-3 in round one by Passakorn Suwannawat, a 25-year-old Thai player who is back on the main tour this season by virtue of winning the 2011 Asian Championship.

Suwannawat, the 2007 IBSF World Championship runner-up, sealed his victory with a magnificent break of 138 - the highest of the tournament so far - in the deciding frame of a match which was nip-and-tuck throughout.

Leo Fernandez, who works and coaches at O’Sullivan’s Snooker Club, went down by the same scoreline at the hands of 19-year-old Nick Jennings in round one of the amateur pre-qualifiers on Saturday evening.

Rob Tickner lost 4-0 to Jamie Barrett in round one of the amateur pre-qualifiers on Sunday morning and fellow local man Jamie Walker was pipped 4-3 by Matthew Day in round two of the amateur pre-qualifiers that evening.

Next up for Davis and Robertson are the qualifying rounds for the inaugural Australian Goldfields Open, again at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, next week.