Maguire bounces back

Stephen Maguire scored three consecutive centuries as he staged a remarkable comeback to beat reigning world champion Mark Williams 6-5 at the UK Championship in York.

Maguire trailed 4-0 but responded with breaks of 122, 120 and 109, later following with a 97 to edge ahead.

The Scot missed a simple yellow to effectively seal victory in the 10th frame, but recovered his poise to win the decider, largely due to an outrageous double on the last red.

“That’s the best comeback I’ve ever made,” said Maguire. “At the interval I told my dad to get the car ready and we could be back in Glasgow by 7.30. I just decided to pull the cue back and hope for the best.”

Ronnie O’sullivan celebrated his 43rd birthday in style as he stormed into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 win over Jack Lisowski.

O’sullivan revealed he had rejected a lucrative offer to appear in the I’ma Celebrity jungle in order to focus on his quest for a seventh UK title.

After scoring successive hundred breaks in the fifth and sixth frames, he said: “It was never about the money or I’d have gone into the Jungle. I’d really like to do it but (not) when you think you can still win tournaments. It was about snooker first.”