World Championship: Dominic Dale and Neil Robertson reach second round at Crucible
Dominic Dale recorded his first win at the Crucible since 2000, while Neil Robertson eased through to the second round.
Last Updated: 24/04/14 10:53pm
The Welshman led 7-2 overnight and took two of the first three frames when play resumed on Thursday afternoon to move to the brink of the second round.
Davis mounted a belated fightback with runs of 69 and 61 and won the 14th frame on a re-spotted black to keep the match alive.
But Dale, who had lost in the first round on his five Crucible appearances since reaching the quarter-finals in 2000, closed out the win with a 57 break.
Dale will play Ding Junhui's conqueror Michael Wasley in the last 16.
Comfortable
Neil Robertson also comfortably cleared the opening hurdle in his bid to win the tournament for a second time, the 2010 champion easing to a 10-2 victory over Robbie Williams.
The Australian left-hander had held a 7-2 lead heading into Thursday's session and did not take long to cross the finishing line, including producing the biggest break of the event so far.
Robertson managed a 140 clearance to move to the brink and then followed that up with 102 in the next, helping him seal a clash with Mark Allen next.
Meanwhile, Ali Carter rallied from 5-1 down to trim his deficit to 5-3 at the end of the first session of his second-round match against Mark Selby.
Carter started and finished with centuries - 102 and 110 - but in between Selby rolled in three half-centuries to hold the early edge in the best-of-25 contest.
O'Sullivan trails
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan also finds himself trailing by the same scoreline against Joe Perry, though things could have been even worse for the five-time winner after he had at one stage found himself 4-1 behind.
O'Sullivan produced a 116 clearance to make it 4-2 and then cut the gap to a solitary frame when he followed up his century with a decisive run of 75.
However, a break of 99 from Perry checked the progress of 'The Rocket' and gave the 39-year-old a 5-3 advantage heading into the second session on Friday afternoon.
Thursday results:
Dominic Dale (Wal) 10-5 Mark Davis (Eng)
Neil Robertson (Aus) 10-2 Robbie Williams (Eng)
