Steve Davis one win closer to World Snooker Championship berth
Last Updated: 25/04/15 2:59pm
Steve Davis claimed a dramatic victory over Jamie Cope at the World Championship qualifying event as he stayed in the hunt for a Crucible place.
Davis clinched a 10-9 win over Cope on the final black at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, a short stroll from the theatre where the biggest event on the snooker calendar begins next week.
The 57-year-old, a six-time former world champion, has missed out in qualifying in each of the last four years, and must still come through two more rounds to earn a place in the tournament, but Cope was a significant obstacle in his path.
Davis had predicted his qualifying bid would "end in tears", and it still might, but he held his nerve impressively after Cope had looked like pinching a win from the brink of defeat - after leading 4-0 and 9-7, Davis saw Cope battle back to force the deciding frame.
Despite Davis making a break of 52 to lead by 28 points in the winner-takes-all finale, Cope was allowed back to the table and had chances to tie up a place in the second round of the preliminaries.
However the 29-year-old missed the pink, and Davis potted it from long range before - with the rest making the shot all the more difficult - he clipped in the black from a testing angle.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the black-ball deciding frame that saw Davis lose 18-17 to Dennis Taylor in the 1985 World Championship final.
Kurt Maflin or David Grace will await Davis on the next step to the tournament he once dominated.
