Steve Davis, playing with an unfamiliar cue after his own was lost on the way to Poland, won three matches at PTC6 on Friday.

Six-times world champion Davis, 54, was one of several players to arrive in Warsaw to find that their cues had not made it to the Polish capital. The Nugget was forced to play with a borrowed cue, but managed to score wins over Jaroslaw Kowalski (4-2), Barry Hawkins (4-3) and Alan McManus (4-2) to reach the last 16.

The win over McManus featured breaks of 86 and 58.

Davis, who is by far the oldest player on the pro tour but is still ranked inside the top 48, was reunited with his preferred cue late in the day as the tournament continued yesterday. The final will be played this evening.

Malta veteran Tony Drago had started the tournament with two wins but late Friday he was eliminated by Liu Chuang 4-1 as the latter became the second Chinese player to make it to the last 16.

Liu beat Martin Gould in the first round, though Gould kept his place in the top 16, which will earn him a Masters debut, because Mark Davis lost in the second round to Nigel Bond when he needed two more wins to overtake Gould in the rankings.