Davis battles through qualifier

The St Leonards potter eventually saw off Lee Page 6-3 at the qualifiers in Barnsley and will face amateur Oliver Brown at the event proper, which will take place in China from October 27-November 3.

Davis would have been a hot favourite going into the match given that he had beaten Page 4-0 and 4-1 earlier in the season, and that he was coming off the back of a superb three-week period in the far east during which he recorded eight wins over players in the world’s top 10.

World number 14 Davis was never behind in a lengthy match which continued well into the night, but was pegged back from a frame ahead on three occasions before finally shaking off his 113th-ranked opponent.

Davis won the first, third (in which he recovered from 56 points behind) and fifth frames, hitting a break of 71 in the latter, but lost the second (by just eight points), fourth and sixth to leave the match finely poised at 3-3.

Six reds world champion and General Cup winner Davis, 41, edged a tight seventh frame on the pink and went on to wrap up victory by clinching the next two with a top break of 39.

Earlier in the day, Bexhill-based world number 48 Jimmy Robertson suffered a disappointing 6-4 loss against 94th-ranked Scottish cueman Michael Leslie despite winning three frames in a row from 5-1 down.

Davis and Robertson now head to Germany for European Tour event five this weekend with both men on course to earn places in the PTC Grand Finals next spring.