Davis keen to keep pace with young guns

Ronnie O’Sullivan and Paul Hunter had their day in Dublin to reach tomorrow’s Citywest Irish Masters semi-finals.

Hunter and O’Sullivan dropped only three frames between them against Welshmen Matthew Stevens and Mark Williams.

Today, it is the turn of golden oldie Steve Davis to see if he can keep pace with the game’s current stars, including quarter-final opponent John Higgins.

The 45-year-old Essex legend is trying to win his first ranking title since 1995 when Higgins, then a teenager, was his victim in the Welsh Open final at Newport.

“I can remember times when my general standard was awful,” said the six-time former world champion.

“But what I usually did was play pretty hard at the end of every session.

“I had a few gears that I could raise as the match wore on. I’m just pleased to be competitive again.

“I have cut down on the practice I used to do. I’m not saying that’s right for everyone but it seems to work for me at this stage of my career.

“Besides when I was practising a lot in the latter years it wasn’t necessarily getting me the results.”

History is against Davis equalling his feet at the LG Cup in Preston last October by reaching the semi-finals.

He has played Higgins 23 times and lost on 20 occasions, including four times this term.

And Scotsman Higgins was in fine form in his last match against Anthony Hamilton, making two century breaks.

“We’ve had some close battles and I’m sure it’s going to be another tough match,” said Higgins.

In the first of today’s quarter-finals, Dave Harold meets Australian Quinten Hann trying to reach his first ranking semi-final at the seventh time of asking.

It is 10 years since Harold stunned the snooker world by winning the Asian Open at the expense of Darren Morgan.

It remains his only ranking tournament success and in recent years the 34-year-old has been struggling to keep pace with the game’s whizz kids.

By beating Ken Doherty and Stephen Maguire, Harold has qualified for his first last-eight meeting since last April’s Scottish Open in Aberdeen.

“It feels good to have got this far but I still feel there is a bit more to come,” he said. “I have never lost to Quinten and hopefully that record will continue.”

Hann has other ideas, saying: “I’m going to stick my neck on the block and think I can reach the semi-finals.”