Mark Davis pulled two classy frames out of the bag when he needed it most to reach the second round of the Northern Ireland Open.

The Englishman was trailing 3-2 to Noppon Saengkham in Belfast, needing to win the last two frames against a man seeded just one place below in the competition.

But Davis duly delivered, breaks of 85 and 88 seeing him turn the game around and win 4-3, with Wednesday’s second round seeing the No.32 seed come up against Luo Honghao.

It was Davis who struck first but Saengkham fought back in the Waterfront Hall, breaks of 101 and 136 - the highest of the tournament at that point - helping him to a lead after the mid-session interval.

From there nerves of steal were required but the Thai player couldn’t do enough to prevail, leaving the 46-year-old to carry on his strong form.

Davis came agonisingly close to his first ranking title last month, with the Sussex cueman overcome by Stuart Bingham in the English Open final - held just a few miles from his stomping ground.

But a place in the final has left him hungry for more, looking to replicate the type of performance that saw him knock out Ronnie O’Sullivan in Crawley.

Watch the Northern Ireland Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds