Duo edge through to Germany

St Leonards-based Mark Davis and Jimmy Robertson, from Bexhill, each won two matches at the qualifiers in Wigan at the end of last week to seal a spot in the event proper at the start of February.

World number 19 Davis followed up his 5-4 victory over Daniel Wells on Wednesday (which he clinched on a respotted black in the final frame) with a 5-3 success against 64th-ranked Gary Wilson on Friday afternoon.

The opening four frames were shared, Wilson winning the first and third with a top break of 68, and Davis taking the second and fourth with a best run of 55.

Davis won the fifth to edge ahead for the first time at 3-2 only for Wilson to level with a 65. Davis clinched frame seven helped by a break of 50 and sealed victory by edging the next on the pink following an earlier 55.

Both of Robertson’s wins were by 5-4 scorelines. He followed up a hard-fought success against world number 88 Hammad Miah on Wednesday with a similarly close victory over Ian Burns on Friday afternoon.

World number 47 Robertson was behind on four occasions against 80th-ranked Burns and was never ahead until winning the all-important deciding frame.

Burns made a blistering start with a break of 136 in the opening frame only for Robertson to edge the second on the black with a 34 clearance. Burns took the third thanks largely to a run of 65, but Robertson potted the final four colours to make it 2-2 at the interval.

Another 65 put Burns 3-2 ahead and although Robertson won the sixth, Burns took the seventh to move within one of victory. Robertson fashioned a break of 100 to level at 4-4 and a 74 gave him the decider.

The 28-year-old will face world number 13 Joe Perry at the venue stage, which will be contested by 32 players. Davis will be up against recently-crowned UK champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.