Mark Davis couldn’t hide his astonishment after coming edging a tight but lengthy third-round encounter with Joe Perry at the UK Snooker Championship in York.

The 42-year-old world No.19 beat Perry 6-5 in a marathon battle for a place in the last 16 at the Barbican but Davis admitted he was nowhere near his best form.

After Perry had gone 4-2 up, Davis dug in to bring it to 5-5 on the black before grinding out the result in the deciding frame – much to his delight and wonder.

“I hate saying I played bad when I’ve won as it’s disrespectful,” he said. “But I probably dragged Joe’s level down to mine to be honest.

“I was trying my hardest and it’s been a struggle all week but I can’t believe I won. It’s an absolute mystery how that happened as I was struggling so badly.

“But I’m absolutely delighted to get through and now I’ll have to improve, because you can only win against Joe like that one time in a thousand and I was very fortunate. I’m lucky to still be here.

“It’s not often I say it but I’m proud of myself to dig in and get through. Inside I was really struggling with my game, and I battled and hung in even though it was very hard going.”

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