World Seniors Championship 2013 - Steve Davis champion once more

Steve Davis - the 2013 World Seniors Championship winner

Steve Davis beat Nigel Bond by 2-1 to lift the 2013 World Seniors Championship trophy and get a well-deserved victory under his belt after quite some time.

Although this is not a ranking event and the "best of three" rule doesn't speak too highly of its format, the victory that Steve recorded can't be overlooked as it proved once more (if needed) that great talent and ambition don’t disappear with age.

The six-time world champion had a very funny and interesting encounter with Dennis Taylor in the first round, in which he managed to beat the man who robbed him of his 1985 world title with a undisputable 2-0 scoreline and then defeated Tony Chappel by 2-1 in a cues-battle that didn't see the best of him by far.

Nigel Bond - the 2013 World Seniors Championship runner-up

The semi-final was a scrappy, yet very tactical cues-affair, carried on against Dave Harold, from which Steve came out as winner also..

So with not such a great performance, at least in the last two matches, the odds seemed rather inclined to see Nigel Bond as favourite to win the title, more since Nigel was reigning champion.

And as the first frame came to an end, the hunch persisted, as a couple of misses from the Nugget's part as well as a failed attempt to get a snooker, helped Bond to take the opener.

However, everything changed when Steve managed to hit a very solid 66 break and leave his opponent in need of snookers. The scoreboard was showing a 71-0 scoreline, so snooker's 007 Agent had a lot to take care off.

The finalists

In the end though, against Nigel's efforts, Davis drew level and forced the decider. The pressure was on. One more frame and the faith of this match will be decided.

The snooker Gods helped Nigel to get an early fluke on a red, but unfortunately he couldn't carry on more than just 12 points, before missing the blue.

So Steve came to the table and started potting one ball after another. He was in such a hurry and seemed so composed and focused that Ken Doherty tweeted he should change his nickname from "The Nugget" to "Dynamite Davis".

A 68-Nugget-ish break was putting Bond in all sorts of trouble (aka. in need of two snookers, which very soon turned out to be three), and although the Englishman tried his best to cope with the situation, it was clear that there could be only one winner (especially after he potted the last red, by mistake)

Davis in action

In the end he conceded the fight so Steve Davis could be crowned champion of the world once more. 

Well, maybe just senior champion, but that's just a tiny detail that doesn't write off the fact that the man who's won six world titles, six UK titles, three Masters and the list can go on, can still play like a competitive animal and put pressure on his opponents, still loves the game and has a lot more to give to it.

Interviewed at the end by Andy Gouldstein, Steve admitted (in good humour) that he doesn’t even remember how a trophy looks like and that he’d like to dedicate this one to his father.

Although from the very beginning of this tournament, he stated he's in for the fun of playing and if he doesn't win he won’t lose too much sleep because of it, it was clearly an emotional moment for him and I think it meant a great deal to put some silverware on his shelf, after such a long time.

One happy Nugget

Personally I couldn’t help but remember that marvellous day of the 2010 World Championship, when he beat the reigning champion John Higgins against all odds.

It was, I dare say, a crucial moment in Steve’s career as a professional snooker player and I know it meant a great deal for me too as it got me started on writing about snooker.

So I hope you will understand why for me, to see Steve win again it’s a dream come true.

Once a champion, always a champion and once a Nugget, always a Nugget!