Knockout Grand Prix excites Davis

Steve Davis believes a return to a knockout format at this year's Royal London Watches Grand Prix in Glasgow could make for an exciting tournament.

The tournament adopted a round-robin league format in 2006 and 2007.

"What is different is a random draw after round one," said Davis. "Two of the top names could draw in the second round instead of being seeded apart.

"The league format came in for a lot of criticism. It's a problem having a league format in the early rounds."

The 51-year-old says the Scottish players taking part in this year's event at the SECC will get a boost from playing in front of a home crowd.

"Perhaps the Scottish pride will come through," he added. "It would always be nice to see some of the Scottish players further into the event.

"Stephen Hendry desperately wants to get back into the mix, John Higgins is always going to be there or thereabouts and it was nice to see Alan McManus coming back into a bit of form in the qualifying sections.

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