World Seniors Championship: Steve Davis beats Nigel Bond 2-1 in Portsmouth final

Steve Davis: Senior champion for the first time

Steve Davis beat defending champion Nigel Bond in the final to capture the World Seniors Championship for the first time.

Davis, who won six world crowns when dominating the sport in the 1980s, captured his first title at seniors level by edging Bond 2-1 in the best-of-three final at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth.

Bond's bid for back-to-back titles looked on course when he took the opener 74-51 but a 66 break in the second pulled Davis level at 1-1.

In the decider, Davis was in amongst the balls first and a 68 break took him to the brink. Bond tried to force snookers but Davis potted another red and that was that.

On a day which saw the quarters, semis and final contested, Davis had booked his place in the last four by beating last year's runner-up Tony Chappel 2-1.

The other last eight clashes saw Bond oust Canada's Cliff Thorburn 2-1, Dave Harold beat Darren Morgan 2-0 and Jimmy White lose 2-1 to his old nemesis Stephen Hendry, who had become eligible to compete in the event for the first time as he will turn 45 during the 2013/2014 season.

Odds-on favourite

Hendry, who beat White four times in the final of the World Championships at The Crucible, was the 5/6 favourite with Sky Bet heading into the semis but he managed just 15 points in his 2-0 loss to Bond.

In the other last four clash, Davis had trailed 1-0 to Harold but won a tight second frame before taking the decider 74-27 thanks to a break of 51.

After beating Bond in the final, a delighted Davis said: "It's been great fun. I've had a couple of cracks at this and I was thinking I'm going to get close and never win it and obviously the standard will get better as the new players come in.

"So I thought, if I'm going to win it I better get my skates on."

The 56 year-old Davis pocketed £18,000 for the victory.