BROMSGROVE-born snooker star Stephen Lee has seen off two of the sport's legends to reach the last eight of the Embassy World Snooker Championships.

Lee defeated six-times champion Steve Davis 10-6 in the first round before edging out crowd favourite Jimmy White 13-11 at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Saturday.

He now faces a quarter-final match against Hong Kong's Marco Fu, conqueror of Ronnie O'Sullivan, to be played to a conclusion tonight (Wednesday).

The 28-year-old, one of two stars with local connections at snooker's 17-day marathon, seemed relieved to get over the winning line.

He said: "I was a bit slow starting but I have been struggling to put people away.

"I had to win because I need the ranking points and I need to turn my season around. I didn't feel in the match until I got to 10-10 but I knew that if I could start scoring more fluently I could put some pressure on him."

Lee, who now lives in Trowbridge, has won three ranking tournaments in his career but has not collected any silverware since winning last year's Scottish Open, a week before the World Championships.

Although he has improved his provisional world ranking from seven to five, he has failed to reach the last four of any event this season and, in an attempt to put rectify things, has become the first player to try hypnotism as a solution.

"I have seen a hypnotist for relaxation," Lee added. "It's quite hard to hold concentration over two weeks."

Also representing the county at the Crucible once again is BBC commentator Clive Everton, an ever-present at the venue since the tournament moved there in 1977.

Clive, from Droitwich Spa, has become tagged 'the voice of snooker' and has covered the sport for the print and broadcast industry for more than 30 years.

"I've seen every session since it's been here," said Clive, who used to live in Corbett Avenue. "My first commentary here was in 1978 - Eddie Charlton v Willie Thorne."