Defending champion at the World Championship, Griffiths lost the first seven frames against Davis in his first match, and ended the first session trailing 1–7. Davis won the opening frame of the second session to extend his lead to 8–1, and had a seven frame lead again at 10–3, before Griffiths won three frames to end the session 6–10 behind. In the third session, Griffiths won the first four frames to level at 10–10, with Davis then winning the next three to secure a 13–10 victory, which included a 116 break in the 22nd frame. The failure of first-time world snooker champions to defend their title has become known as the "Crucible curse."