Mark Davis 6-4 Sam Craigie - Davis made an additional 21 after Craigie's miss and that is more than enough to win the match. On the day he simply took his chances better than Craigie did in the balls and Craigie missed a couple of long pots as well that allowed Davis chances. All in all he was the deserved winner but Craigie certainly played his part in what was a cracking contest and probably the best I've watched this week so far. Perhaps Davis can get on another big run now.
Craigie wins the safety battle but misses on 6. Davis still ahead by 32 then with five reds left, one of which is hanging over the corner to get him back in. A match winning chance now.
Davis initially missed the black on 30 but wasn't punished as Craigie missed a blue to the yellow pocket on 1. Davis then tries to get into the bunch and misses them though so has to play safe.
Frame 10 - Big moments now in this match as it gets close. Davis is in first and will be desperate to close the match out without the need for a decider. It's a decent early chance but he'll need to promote more reds from the bunch soon.
Frame Craigie - Craigie clinches the frame quickly after getting in. He knew it was a massive chance to close the gap and put his foot down once again. A run of 53 is more than enough to keep Davis seated and claw a frame back. 5-4 now to Davis.
Frame 9 - A must win frame for Craigie and after a couple of early half chances he's looking good here after a pot in the middle to get in with reds spread far and wide. He should take this frame at this visit.
Frame Davis - That's a big moment and could be a killer blow to Sam Craigie. He misses on 29 and leaves the red for Davis who then clears the remaining reds well with good pots along cushions in there and goes on to win the frame at that visit and move two clear again and one away from the last 64 at 5-3.
Davis runs out of position on 50 and misses a double attempt but leaves Craigie a red to the middle and he's now in. Three reds on cushions to deal with though if he's to win this frame from behind.
Frame 8 - Craigie had the first half chance of this frame but missed a tough red to the middle, leaving Davis right in now as a result. A big frame here given the difference between 5-3 Davis and 4-4 so a crucial break in progress.
Frame Craigie - Initially Craigie missed a red down the cushion on 56 and left a possibility of the Davis counter clearance which would have badly hurt. However, Davis potted the red but went too far for the black and took on a tough mid range blue, missing and leaving Craigie in to make an additional run of 41 and clinch the frame. 4-3 now to Davis.
Frame 7 - Behind by two for the first time, Craigie needs a response here and knocks a great red in to get in and has picked up the pace a little in this break as he looks to get it done in one visit. So far so good on that front too.
Frame Davis - In the end he's needed another three scoring visits to pot the reds needed to leave Craigie needing snookers, missing frame ball red initially when he must have been rattled by the amount of people that started coming into the Sports Hall. Another long frame but an important one too as Davis leads by two frames for the first time in this match and he looks more in control now. 4-2.
With pink and black still out of play, Davis takes all seven reds with blues to get to 42 but then with only one of the last four reds open he tries to cannon the red and black but finishes on nothing and plays safe with a 23 point lead.
Frame 6 - A long miss from Davis has let Craigie straight in in the sixth and he opts to break the bunch from the first blue and gets all the reds open. A bit of work to do to get pink and black properly in play though and he misses a pink to the middle and has let Davis off the hook.
Frame Davis - An initial break of 60 left Davis in a strong position but his missed cannon to what would have been frame ball meant the frame was still very much alive when the break ended. A period of safety followed before Davis potted a red from distance and was able to close out the frame comfortably thereafter. He's back out in front. 3-2
Craigie misses a red to the corner on 25 to really let Davis off the hook. Initially he left nothing but then took an all or nothing red on to the middle, missing that too and leaving Davis right in now to try and retake the lead for a third time.
Frame 5 - It was 10 minutes into this frame before a ball was potted, with safety pushing reds open and towards the baulk end. A miss from Davis has left Craigie right in now with the balls at his mercy.
Frame Craigie - That was an excellently crafted break of 60 there from Craigie he had a lot of tricky little shots in there but took them all well and I have to say it didn't necessarily look on that he could make enough to leave Davis needing a snooker. That 60 was enough though and a good long pot shortly after clinched the frame and means this match goes to the interval all square at 2-2.
Frame 4 - Been a bit of a scrappy start to this frame with all the reds being opened early yet neither player was able to get in. Craigie is in now though after a good long pot and has just gotten the pink back on it's spot in order to make this a proper scoring chance. During the safety though a lot of the reds have ended up nearer cushions than he would like so there's work to do.
Frame Davis - Once again Davis looks in superb form here. He was flying around the table and looked really confident in that break. This time he just about gets the century as well, making a flawless break of 101 to retake the advantage. 2-1 Davis.
Frame 3 - Davis in first in the third after a long miss from Craigie left him a choice of reds from distance. He picked one out of the bunch and executed perfectly and is now nicely in with reds open and the colours on their spots to move back out in front.
Frame Craigie - Davis initially breaks down on 27 coming just too straight on a red on the cushion and trying to force it but missing. He left it safe and after Craigie's safety Davis attempts a cross double but ends up getting nowhere near and leaves the red over the middle for Craigie to clinch the frame. 1-1
It was all looking good for Craigie but he just didn't get nicely on the red he played on, on 61, potting it and careering into other reds, knocking one over the corner and moving the black safe. He had no choice really but to go for the blue, but misses and has left Davis a counter chance.
Frame 2 - Craigie is in first this time after Davis left a red into the middle, after four reds were down he got into the bunch to open the rest up and this is now a good looking chance to level the match up.
Frame Davis - A really quick contribution and less than 10 minutes needed for that opening frame. Davis made that look pretty simple and showed the form that took him to that final in Crawley with an excellent opening statement of 85. The century only prevented by a missed red down the bottom cushion. 1-0.
Frame 1 - A missed long red from Craigie has left Davis in and at the same time opened quite a few reds up to for the English Open Runner-up to go at. Good chance this early on in proceedings.
This was one of the matches that jumped out when the draw was made so I'm looking forward to watching and live blogging Mark Davis Vs Sam Craigie this afternoon.
Davis of course reached his first ever ranking final recently at the English Open beating John Higgins in the last 16 and then thrashing Ryan Day in the quarters and Ronnie O'Sullivan no less in the semi-final before losing narrowly to Stuart Bingham. Davis is also a former semi-finalist in York, making the last four back in 2012.
As for Sam Craigie he will want to improve on the thrashing he received at this stage last year against Andrew Higginson. He always looks like he is never too far away from potentially having a big run because of how well he scored and he has had a lot of guys play well against him recently. In Northern Ireland Li Hang was superb against him from 2-0 in the last 64 and in the two tournaments prior to that he lost by the odd frame to Barry Hawkins and David Gilbert.
It should be a great tie so I can't wait to get going.
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