Snooker: Lee ends Davis’ season

Stephen Lee brought the curtain down on the 24th season of Steve Davis’ professional career in Aberdeen this afternoon.

Lee chalked up the highest break of the televised stages so far on his way to an impressive 5-1 success over the six times Crucible Theatre runner-up.

And having failed to qualify for the final stages of this year’s Embassy World Championship, Davis now has no chance of regaining his place in the top 16 elite next season.

LG Cup champion Lee restricted his veteran opponent to just six points in the closing two frames as he posted breaks of 81 and a fifth frame effort of 134.

‘‘This was just about one of the toughest draws I could have had for my first match,’’ said the world number eight from Trowbridge.

‘‘And I knew it was Steve’s last tournament of the season so I expected him to come out all guns blazing.

‘‘Steve uses his head so well and I wanted to try and win the frames in one visit if possible. You don’t want to find yourself with just one red left on the table.

‘‘He’s awesome in that position and gets you in so much trouble.’’

Lee will now play Welshman Dominic Dale tomorrow afternoon for a place in the quarter-finals.

And he’s just pleased to be enjoying a change of fortune at this stage of the season with the world championship only 10 days away.

Twelve months ago he lost his first round match 5-4 to Londoner David McDonnell at the Exhibition and Conference Centre.

In 2000, Lee had to withdraw from the tournament due to a shoulder problem.

And the same injury ensured he was a non starter at Plymouth in 1999 when the British Open occupied the same slot on the snooker calendar.

‘‘I wish I’d never bothered to turn up last year,’’ said Lee now free of his restrictive shoulder problem.

‘‘When you lose here in the first round or don’t get to play at all it puts pressure on you to perform at the Crucible.

‘‘But I put in a lot of hard work before I came here and I’m just looking to get a bit of confidence before I go to Sheffield.’’

Davis will also be in Sheffield but only in his role as television presenter for the BBC. He gained his only success in frame four and didn’t score heavily enough to put pressure on his Wiltshire opponent.