Smooth snooker gets Steve Davis through

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 3

Smooth snooker gets Steve Davis through

NZPA-AFP London The defending champion, Steve Davis, cruised smoothly into the second round of the Embassy world professional snooker championship in Sheffield yesterday — taking seven frames in a row at one stage as he crushed an Australian qualifier, Warren King, 10-3. Davis, a 26-year-old millionaire from South London, took time to settle in the morning session of the best of 19 frames match and, despite beginning with a break of 58 to win frame one, he was held to two frames all by the persistent 29-year-old from Sydney. But after the first session interval, Davis, chasing his third world championship, moved into gear, and successive breaks of 37, 64 and 46 helped him to a 6-2 lead at the start of yesterday’s playA. Sixty-three minutes lateiT Davis was a frame

from victory before King proved his undoubted talent with a superb 67 break to win the twelfth frame.

King, however, prepared to go for anything, took one risk too many after hauling himself back to just three points behind, 54-57, in the thirteenth frame and left the final black over the top right-hand pocket for Davis to claim a second-round place against either John Spencer or Graham Miles. “He was far too precise for me,” admitted King, “but the atmosphere out there, especially with two tables going, was something I am not used to. It was unnerving.” Davis said: “I took time to settle, but in the end I was hitting the balls very sweetly, and I prefer it that way to starting off like a train and running out of steam. I had not seen; Warren play before, but 1 was

generally impressed with him.”

Ray Reardon, suffering a poor season, had an unconvincing first-round win over a Canadian qualifier, Jim Wych. Reardon, who is seeded second but has not won a tournament this season, won, 10-7, against the 29-year-old from Calgary, who is ranked only forty-fourth in the world. The Stoke-based Welshman Reardon, aged 51, winner of the world title six times, the last in 1978, took the first three frames but was pegged back to 4-3. Yesterday, Wych poured back again from 6-3 down to 6-5 before Reardon finally squeezed through to a second-round place against either Tony Meo or Silvino Francisco.

Wych had the satisfaction of the three highest breaks of the match: 87, 73 and 64.