Snooker : Davis has to work overtime

Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon yesterday forced a match at the Benson and Hedges Masters to be suspended in order to allow another session to start for only the second time since the tournament was inaugurated in 1975.

Wembley organisers had no option but to halt proceedings in the quarter- final with Davis holding a 5-4 lead.

Having occupied the table for 3hr 54min, Davis was left requiring one more frame to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time this season. He finally wrapped up the match 6-4 after another 31 minutes when the game resumed after Ken Docherty had beaten Mark Williams 6-3.

Not since a marathon first-round encounter between renowned Australian slowcoach Eddie Charlton and Canada's Kirk Stevens in 1986 has a Masters contest failed to finish in the allotted time.

Ebdon went 2-0 ahead with a run of 109 - the highest break of the tournament so far and only the fourth century - but Davis drew level at 2-2 thanks to a 68 break in the fourth.

From there on they traded alternate frames until their second visit to the table when Davis took the 10th to win.