Davis grinds out Belfast win over home favourite Swail

Mark Davis inflicted a disappointment not only on Joe Swail but his hometown crowd with a 5-4 victory in the Northern Ireland Trophy, the season's first ranking event, at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. For England's world No58, it was a rare televised win. Invariably difficult to beat in qualifying competitions but never ranked higher than 35th in his 17 years on the circuit, it is 10 years since Davis took the notable scalps of Ken Doherty and Ronnie O'Sullivan in front of the cameras. Swail, who had won five of their previous six encounters and started the season ranked 20th, led 4-3 but Davis won two hard-fought if undistinguished frames to earn a match against China's No1 Ding Junhui.

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