Ken Doherty suffered his second consecutive first round defeat at the Irish Masters when he was upstaged and outplayed by a vintage Steve Davis at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin this afternoon.
Doherty, the World Number 7, started this tournament as the form player after his recent back to back ranking title wins, but, he was tactically outwitted by Davis in a grueling ten frame match that lasted over four hours.
A combination of focused drive and stereotypical vigilance was sufficient for the ever resilient 43-year-old to secure an intriguing quarter-final showdown with the charismatic Ronnie O’Sullivan on Friday night.
Davis, who will not play in this year’s World Championship after failing to negotiate the qualifying rounds, was quick to appreciate the opportunity today’s victory has given him.
"This win has given me my sense of pride back as I had more or less given up on things this season", enthused the winner.
Davis added: "I feel a little bit guilty to have defeated Ken as he is the man in form and I am certainly not. . . my enthusiasm for the sport has drained somewhat with the whole World Championship thing but it’s still nice to win."
After matching each other in the opening exchanges, Doherty and Davis emerged from the mid session interval tied at two frames a piece. Not renowned for his steady break building, Davis turned in impressive build up play in third frame.
Thirty-four points behind Doherty, the eight times Irish Masters champion complied a break of 52, culminating with a crucial black, to take the frame and the lead for the first time in the match.
The following frame was a tedious, strategic affair that lasted 32 minutes. Both players exquisite safety play canceled the others out until Davis conceded the frame when leaving the last remaining red dangling over the top left pocket.
A familiar pattern emerged with the next frame following suit. A bout of safety play left Doherty needing a snooker. But a vital lapse in concentration from the Ranelagh man gifted his opponent a frame winning visit to the table. Davis duly obliged with a 61 break, taking the frame 74-29 and a 4-3 lead.
A distraught Doherty conceded the next, leaving Davis needing one frame for victory. A courageous break of 56 in the next gave the home crowd some hope of a Doherty revival as he closed the gap to 4-5 but Davis won the marathon 35 minute tenth frame 57-9 to claim his place in the next round.
Speaking at the post match press conference, a disconsolate Doherty outlined where he felt it went so horribly wrong.
"It was a real disaster today as I never played at all. It was a very long drawn out affair and it has brought me down to earth with a bang having been on a high after winning the Thailand Masters."
"I’m very very disappointed. . . Steve played some excellent safety which suited him more than it suited me, he stuck to his guns and played the game he wanted to play and played it very well."
"This tournament is like a World Championship for me. I had been very focused and was looking forward to playing but it is even more disappointing playing like that at home. . .I didn’t produce the goods today and gave the home support nothing to shout about."