On song duo one win from Crucible

Mark Davis, from St Leonards, and Bexhill-based Jimmy Robertson are through to the final round of the qualifiers for the sport’s blue riband event.

Davis will take on Ken Doherty - with the first session at 11am today and the second session at the same time tomorrow - and Robertson will face Xiao Guodong - with the first session at 5pm today and the second session at the same time tomorrow.

The winners of the best of 19 frames contests will take their places alongside the world’s top 16 in the main draw at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from Saturday.

Davis and Robertson came through the second round of qualifying at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield yesterday, beating Oliver Lines 10-7 and Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 10-6 respectively.

World number 42 Robertson did the damage early on, winning five of the first six frames en route to a 7-2 lead at the end of the first session. He knocked in breaks of 103 in frame two, 52 in frame four and 66 in frame six.

Robertson then took two of the first three frames in the second session to lead 9-3. Tirapongpaiboon, ranked 114, reeled off the next three frames, despite Robertson making a 54 in frame 15, before Robertson finished the job in frame 16.

World number 18 Davis prevailed in a tough battle against 79th-ranked rising star Lines. Davis led 2-0 and 4-2 before ending the opening sesssion 5-4 ahead having compiled breaks of 72 in frame one, 53 in frame five and 111 in frame six.

A 69 gave Davis the opening frame of the second session, but Lines reeled off the next three to lead for the first time at 7-6. Davis dug deep, though, to win the next four to complete a hard-earned victory, finishing things off with a 61 in frame 17.

Davis and Robertson also came through the first round of qualifying, Davis seeing off English amateur Joe O’Connor 10-4 and Robertson getting the better of Malaysian cueman Thor Chuan Leong 10-7.