Davis stuns Higgins at the Crucible

Steve Davis pulled off the greatest shock of the Betfred.com World Championship when he sent last year's winner John Higgins out of the tournament.

Backed by massive support this year at the Crucible, on his 30th appearance, Davis followed up his final-frame win over Mark King in the first round with the biggest scalp possible.

Higgins, who was a 13-year-old when Davis won his sixth and most recent world title in 1989, played a poor match by his standards.

But Davis still had to take the chances when they came his way and, at the age of 52, he has a quarter-final to look forward to after a magnificent 13-11 victory.

Davis received a standing ovation as he exited the arena.

‘I just cannot really believe that I played strongly enough to beat John,’ Davis said. ‘I knew I was playing well in the build-up to the World Championship.

‘I hoped I would play well in the first round and I fancied that I was playing okay but you never know until you actually get here.’

Today he managed to hold off Higgins and said: ‘I suppose the inner belief grew as the match went closer and closer.

‘Then of course the nerves kicked in and until I potted the final pink and held myself together while I was shaking like a leaf, perhaps I didn't believe it was going to happen.’

Davis had a tear in his eye as he left the arena, and added: ‘It feels just amazing, just amazing. To beat John Higgins, one of the greatest players to ever hold a cue, at the World Championship, as champion - quite amazing.’

When he survived the nerve-jangling process of qualifying for the tournament, Davis called himself the ‘last of the Mohicans’, given he is the only player from his generation still playing at the highest level.

He has found the competitive drive which made him such a hard player to beat in the 1980s - his decade of dominance on the baize - and the spark has come from his manager Barry Hearn's grand plan to reinvigorate the game.

Hearn was the man who could not watch 25 years ago when Davis lost on the final-frame black to Dennis Taylor in the greatest Crucible final.

As Taylor spent time backstage today, out on the table Davis was rolling back the years.

Davis won many matches as favourite at the Crucible in his prime, but he was a massive underdog against Higgins.

Higgins trailed 6-2 after the opening session and 9-7 after the second, and after each session the bookmakers still made him favourite.

This morning he stepped up his fightback with breaks of 70 and 115 - his 100th career Crucible century - to make it 9-9.

With four more frames needed for victory, the momentum looked to be firmly with the 34-year-old.

Davis reached 37 on a break in the next frame before missing a difficult red, and it looked set to be a costly mistake before Higgins fluffed blue to middle.

Rather than Higgins moving into the lead for the first time in the match, Davis calmly put away 46 points to edge 10-9 in front.

The underdog then gunned in a 49 break in the 20th frame of the match before missing a routine red when he should have seized the chance to win the frame in one visit.

Higgins responded with 41, foiled from clearing up by running up tight to the blue.

When the next chance came, Higgins missed the blue, left it for Davis, and the man who made his Crucible debut in 1979 wrapped up the frame to lead 11-9 at the interval.

Higgins found a way back to 11-11, but runs of 26 and 35 inched Davis back ahead.

Then Higgins led 43-1 in the next frame, but contrived to allow Davis a path back.

Davis closed the gap to nine, but Higgins missed an easy red when he should have pulled himself level.

Then came the most magical break of the match as Davis took on the colours. He had to double the brown and nudge the blue over the pocket in the same shot, and executed it to perfection, a masterful shot from snooker's ultimate technician.

In went the blue, and then Davis rolled the pink into the middle pocket.

The Crucible erupted, and now the talk of a seventh world title can start.

Davis' feat put the other match in the shade, but Scotland's Graeme Dott, the 2006 champion, was in supreme form as he opened up a 12-4 lead over his good friend Stephen Maguire, firing in breaks of 127 and 130.

Higgins offered Davis warm congratulations.

He said: 'I would love him to go on and maybe play wee Graeme (Dott) or another fellow Scotsman in the final. He's a great champion.

'It's going to be tough for him, at 52 years of age. Last year I had some monumental clashes and I was dead on my feet near the end but he's probably fitter than me.'

Half-joking, Higgins said: 'I hated him out there. I was looking at him, despising him, and hoping he would collapse or something.

'But at the end I wished him all the best and that's what you've got to do.'

Discussing his own performance, Higgins said: 'The balls never forgive you in this game and I missed some crucial pots out there today.

'Last year I managed to hold myself well under pressure but this year I was all over the place.'