Snooker: First-round loss for Davis at Crucible

Steve Davis went out of the Embassy World Championship in Sheffield last night when Stephen Lee won the last four frames to complete a 10-6 first-round victory.

Davis fancied his chances of upsetting the world No 7, and for a good proportion of what turned out to be a six-hour slog he kept pace with his Wiltshire rival. But Lee, beaten by the six-time champion in last month's Irish Masters, picked up the tempo from 6-6.

Back at the Crucible for the first time since 2000, the 45-year-old Davis said: "There were four or five frames that could have gone either way and I didn't win enough of those. But Stephen cued superbly in the second session and he deserved to win. I played okay but nothing better than okay."