Davis began 1987 by winning the Classic 13–12 against defending champion Jimmy White. At the 1987 World Snooker Championship, he defeated Griffiths 13–5 in the quarter-final and White 16–11 in the semi-final. Meeting Johnson again in the final, he established a 14–10 lead after three sessions. Johnson reduced Davis's lead to 14–13, but Davis took four of the next five frames to win the match 18–14 and regain the title, his fourth world championship. In December he retained his UK title with a 16–14 win against White in the final. Davis retained the Classic in 1988 before claiming his second Masters title: in the final he completed a 9–0 whitewash of Mike Hallett, the only such result in the event's history. He also won the World Cup with England and secured his fourth Irish Masters title. In that year's World Championship Davis defeated Hallett 13–1, Tony Drago 13–4 and Thorburn 16–8 en route to the final, where he met Griffiths. Davis established a 5–2 lead after the first session, but Griffiths levelled at 8–8 after the second. On the second day of the match, Davis took ten out of thirteen frames to win his fifth world title 18–11.