Davis enjoys vintage victory

Steve Davis revealed his motivation was to keep his ranking lower than his age after knocking Ali Carter out of the Welsh Open first round.

Carter led three times in the all-Essex clash on Monday, but Davis' tactical mind remains sharp and he managed to ally it with a wonderful display of break-building, compiling two centuries as he set up a last-16 clash with Shaun Murphy.

"I played with a certain amount of freedom and took my chances," Davis, currently ranked 43rd in the world, told the World Snooker website.

"My dad, who is still my coach, said that I'm playing well enough in practice for it all to come together in a match, and that happened today.

"I don't like it when I lose, but when it goes right it's lovely and I have to enjoy the moment. My aim now is to keep my ranking lower than my age and to see how long I can keep that going.

"You have to look at every match as, at best, the toss of a coin. I could keep winning or I could go out in the next round."

Carter led 1-0 after a 68 and, after Davis responded with 61 to level the match, the world number 11 moved ahead once more.

Davis produced a vintage 121 clearance, though, to leave the players level once more at 2-2.

He had to come from behind again after Carter took frame five with an 83, but he levelled with 63 and then produced his second century clearance, 117, to take the match.

Judd Trump cruised through 4-0 against Fergal O'Brien to set up a clash with the winner of Stuart Bingham's match with Mark King.

Trump took the opening frame despite a kick when on a break of 58, and he made a 61 in the second before returning to finish the frame off with some exhibition shots.

He took the third after O'Brien jawed a long red and saved his best for last, wrapping up the match with a break of 104.

John Higgins was another high-profile winner on Monday evening, with a 4-1 win over Liang Wenbo, while Ding Junhui hammered Mark Davis 4-0 in the morning.

Shaun Murphy overcame Mark Joyce 4-2 after a slow start, coming from 2-0 down with breaks of 65, 71, 71 and 89 to turn the match around, while Tom Ford overcame Graeme Dott 4-2.