Local duo beaten in Berlin

Mark Davis, from St Leonards, was beaten 5-1 by a very much on song Ronnie O’Sullivan and Bexhill-based Jimmy Robertson lost 5-0 to Joe Perry in round one at the Berlin Tempodrom.

Davis made the perfect start as a break of 110 gave him a 1-0 lead against five-time world champion O’Sullivan, but ‘The Rocket’ reeled off five frames on the trot to launch himself to victory.

World number 19 Davis fancied his chances of causing an upset after defeating O’Sullivan in the Championship League last week, but breaks of 93 and 117 from the world number three ensured there would be no repeat.

And the 42-year-old was disappointed not to build on his strong start to the match.

“I made a good start – it was nice to settle down and have a good break in the first frame but there was still a long way to go,” said Davis.

“He played really well after that – he limited my chances and my safety wasn’t really good enough to create chances. Against Ronnie you’ve got to play good safety to try and create chances because you’re not going to get left in the balls.

“That was the disappointing thing – my safety wasn’t good enough to compete and it’s frustrating because I felt if I got in the balls, then I would score.

“I’ll move on now – there are so many tournaments coming up that you just move on to the next one and get on with it.”

Meanwhile, Robertson made a high break of just 30 as Perry turned the screw – leaving the 28-year-old to rue a missed opportunity in frame two.

“I could have got going in the second frame when I was on 30 but I missed a dolly red when the balls were spread nicely,” explained Robertson.

“That could have been a turning point but after that I didn’t have too many chances and I never got going, so it was pretty tough out there.

“I’ve been playing really well and fancied putting in a performance against Joe, but it wasn’t to be. I’ll be back to the practice table, then we’ve got two sets of qualifier next week before it’s off to Wales for the Welsh Open, so it’s a really busy period coming up.”

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