Nugget Nicks It With Magical Win Over Wizard Of Wishaw As Davis Dethrones World Champion

Sportspeak salutes a true legend as Steve Davis kept his nerve to pull off a shock victory over defending champion John Higgins at the World Championship.

Six-time champion Davis, playing in a record 30th World Championship started the day 9-7 ahead but Higgins took the first two frames, with his 115 in the second frame his 100th Crucible century.The Wizard Of Wishaw missed blues in each of the next two frames to enable Davis, 52, to restore his two-frame advantage.Breaks of 59 and 56 saw Higgins draw level once again but Davis won the next two frames to clinch a 13-11 win.Davis’s remarkable victory, coming 25 years after his defeat by Dennis Taylor in the sport’s most famous final, is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, shocks the Crucible has ever seen in the 33 years it has been home to snooker’s most glittering prize.It was a hugely tense session in Sheffield as Davis, who won the last of his six titles in 1989, dug deep to rediscover some of the form which made him the game’s dominant figure two decades ago.The previous time the pair played in the World Championship, back in 2000, Higgins won 13-11, and when he levelled at 11-11 it looked as though he might go on to repeat the feat.But, with the tension almost tangible in the arena, it was Davis who came through to reach the last eight, where he is likely to face Neil Robertson .Higgins dominated the opening two frames and Davis did not score his first points of the day until Higgins fouled at the start of the third.

Davis then reached 37 before missing a difficult red, and it looked set to be a costly mistake before Higgins fluffed the blue to the 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 veteran gunned in a 49 break in the 20th frame but although he missed a routine red, Higgins once again missed a blue and Davis wrapped up the frame to make it 11-9 at the interval.Higgins came out the stronger and a pair of half-century breaks saw him level matters once again.But Davis, who is making his 30th appearance at the tournament, was in no mood to concede and a break of 35 in the penultimate frame, saw him edge ahead once more.Higgins managed a break of 42 in the 24th frame but could not land the decisive blow and Davis, helped by a run of 34, closed out a victory that was rapturously received by the fans.

Bob "The Voice" McKenzie Twitter: @BobTheVoice About: