SNOOKER/Irish Masters: On a day when two of snooker's modern stars were embroiled in tension which had little to do with the game itself, Steve Davis could hardly have been more relaxed as he breezed into the second round of the €635,000 Irish Masters at Citywest yesterday.
Davis, enjoying a revival as he heads towards his 46th birthday, grew in strength throughout a surprisingly comfortable 5-1 win over the world number seven Stephen Lee.
Having trailed 3-0, Lee got off the mark with a break of 73 in frame four, and also led 53-0 in the next. However, Davis stepped in to win that with a 61 clearance to the pink, then put together 71 in the sixth frame to earn a meeting with Scotland's Chris Small.
Davis' carefree demeanour was in contrast to the troubled air of O'Sullivan, who trailed 2-0 and later 3-2 against Stuart Bingham, before three breaks in the seventies carried him to victory at 5-3.
O'Sullivan had been the source of controversy earlier in the day, after a tabloid extract from his forthcoming autobiography identified Mark Williams as an unpopular figure among fellow players.
Williams remained on course to replace O'Sullivan as world number one at the end of the season, by beating Rod Lawler 5-1 with the aid of a 141 total clearance. That set a new target for the €11,905 highest break prize, until Peter Ebdon bettered it with a 142 during his 5-1 win over Brian Morgan.
"I don't care what he says, it won't have any impact on my life" said Williams when asked about O'Sullivan's remarks.
"If you're that sort of person, you'll say anything. I suppose there will be a bit more needle the next time we play." O'Sullivan responded by suggesting that Williams "should be thankful he gets a mention in the book. It's a privilege really, after all nobody's going to be writing books about him, because he isn't interesting."
Ken Doherty fell to a late night 5-4 defeat by Dave Harold of England. Doherty came from 4-2 down to level the match at 4-4, cutting in a magnificent black to win frame eight and force the decider. He failed to make any impact in the last frame however.
RESULTS: FIRST ROUND: Q Hann (Aus-14) bt G Greene (NI) 5-4 (84-22, 42-73, 17-66, 36-66, 6-71, 73-46, 69-35, 59-37, 75-32); S Davis (Eng) bt S Lee (Eng-7) 5-1 (60-1, 55-37, 62-14, 1-87, 71-53, 72-42); M Williams (Wls-3) bt R Lawler (Eng) 48-73, 87-8, 80-8, 76-33, 58-21, 141-0); P Ebdon (Eng-1) bt B Morgan (Eng) 5-1 (87-7, 81-10, 73-43, 96-27, 59-69, 142-0); S Maguire (Sco) bt J Swail (NI-16) 5-3 (99-1, 45-68, 91-0, 69-61, 0-135, 62-64, 55-38, 58-12); R O'Sullivan (Eng-2) bt S Bingham (Eng) 5-3 (35-67, 0-139, 59-43, 92-25, 0-81, 90-0, 71-13, 76-40); P Hunter (Eng-9) bt S Hendry (Sco-6) 5-4 (71-1, 0-125, 92-34, 96-45, 50-69, 50-58, 49-80, 77-36, 68-1) M Stevens (Wls-8) beat J Perry (Eng-13) 5-4 (67-40, 16-64, 0-86, 0-92, 56-1, 78-20, 118-2, 0-84, 73-14); D Harold (Eng) beat K Doherty (Irl-5) 5-4 (61-47, 51-80, 74-8, 62-20, 61-69, 77-6, 22-81, 50-63, 72-7)
TODAY'S PLAY: SECOND ROUND: 2.00pm S Davis (Eng) v C Small (Sco), M Williams (Wls-3) v J Burnett (Sco), A Carter (Eng) v R O'Sullivan (Eng-2); 7.00pm P Ebdon (Eng-1) v Q Hann (Aus-14), S Maguire (Sco) v D Harold (Eng), A Hamilton (Eng) v J Higgins (Sco-4).
