Davis Earns Rocket Quarter-Final & McGill to face Neil Robertson in Last Eight

Mark Davis edged out Liang Wenbo 4-3 in the last 16 of the European Masters in Romania to set up a match with Ronnie O’Sullivan.

World number 30 Davis is into his second ranking quarter-final of the season, having reached the same stage of the Paul Hunter Classic, though he was fortunate today that his Chinese opponent missed a clear chance for victory in the penultimate frame.

In a high quality start to the match, Liang went 2-1 up with breaks of 81 and 103, with Davis taking the second frame with an 82. Sussex cueman Davis got the better of a scrappy fourth for 2-2. The fifth came down to a safety exchange on the final pink, and a loose shot from Davis allowed his opponent to bury a mid-range pot to a top corner to go 3-2 ahead.

World number 20 Liang had a golden chance to seal the match in frame six but, trailing 44-55 with the last four balls at his mercy; he suffered a kick on the brown and missed it to a baulk corner. Davis took advantage to force the decider, and then won it in fine fashion with a break of 107.

Anthony McGill also came through a tense decider to beat close friend Scott Donaldson 4-3. Indian Open champion McGill is now through to his fourth quarter-final of the season and will face Neil Robertson on Friday evening.

He held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 today but Donaldson recovered each time and won the sixth frame with a break of 86. Donaldson had a chance in the decider but was unlucky to go in-off when potting the black and splitting the pack of reds. A safety exchange followed, ending when Glasgow’s 25-year-old McGill converted an excellent pot on a red to a centre pocket, which set up a match winning run of 46.