Steve Davis claimed a dramatic victory over Jamie Cope at the World Championship qualifying event as he stayed in the hunt for a Crucible place.

At the Ponds Forge venue in Sheffield, a short stroll from the theatre where the biggest event on the snooker calendar begins later this month, Davis clinched a 10-9 win on the final black.

The 57-year-old six-time former world champion has missed out in qualifying in each of the last four years, and must still come through two more rounds to earn a place in the tournament, but Stoke cueman Cope was a significant obstacle in his path.

Davis had predicted his qualifying bid would “end in tears”, and it still might, but he held his nerve impressively after Cope had looked like pinching a win from the brink of defeat.

After leading 4-0 and 9-7, Davis saw Cope battle back to force the deciding frame.

Despite Davis making a break of 52 to lead by 28 points in the winner-takes-all finale, Cope was allowed back to the table and had chances to tie up a place in the second round of the preliminaries.

However, the 29-year-old Staffordshire cueman missed the pink, and Davis potted it from long range before – with the rest making the shot all the more difficult – he clipped in the black from a testing angle.

Drago, Borg out

Tony Drago and Alex Borg were eliminated from the World Championship yesterday.

Drago potted a 135 clearance break as he hauled himself back into contention, having started the day 7-2 behind to Sam Baird in the best-of-19 match.

However, Englishman Baird clinched two decisive frames in succession to seal the match 10-7 and deny the Maltese veteran a place in the next round.

Borg gave Jamie Burnett a good run for his money in yesterday’s second session before going down 10-8.

Burnett hit six half-century breaks in all to advance to the next round where he plays Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.