Maguire sees off rival Murphy at Crucible to reach last eight
Stephen Maguire secured his spot in the World Championship quarter-finals after a “satisfying” 13-9 win over rival Shaun Murphy at the Crucible.
The pair have feuded for two decades following an incident where Maguire was penalised a frame for forgetting his chalk and the Scotsman held off a late fightback from Murphy to seal victory.
He resumed yesterday morning with a 10-6 overnight lead and continued his quest to reach the last eight with a break of 68 before Murphy pulled a frame back.
Maguire then moved within one frame of victory but Murphy continued to battle, a 67 break earning him the following frame before he took the first after the mid-session interval to trail by three. However, Maguire sealed the win in style, hitting the only century of the match with a 127 to set up a quarter-final meeting with David Gilbert.
Maguire told the World Snooker Tour website: “(Murphy) looked like he was comfortable in that session, so I was starting to get geared up for a comeback and a close finish. Once I got my chance, I finished pretty well there.
“Me and Dave (Gilbert) get on and we’ve grown up with each other for the best part of 30 years. He is a great player. He’s not had a great season by his standards. i’ m probably the same, so we are coming into a good game at the right time.
“The quarter-finals are the pressure matches. I’ve won a couple and lost a couple. It is a match you don’t want to lose in because that arena changes and it does become the best in the world with the one table.”
During Saturday’s session Murphy fist pumped after winning a frame and Maguire admitted it provided him with some motivation.
“Shaun made a mistake. He knows me well enough and I get down on myself,” Maguire said. “He won a frame I should’ve won and I was sitting there hating myself when the fist pump came out and I thought, ‘you’re having it’ and all my attention went on that.
“It was satisfying beating a player as good as Shaun is in the last 16 of the World Championship.”
Ronnie O’sullivan opened up a 10-6 lead on Ryan Day to move within three frames of another quarter-final appearance.
O’sullivan, aiming for a record-breaking eighth Crucible success, built on a 5-3 firstsession lead by making Day pay for a succession of missed chances.
Day responded superbly with efforts of 77 and 75 in the final two frames to keep his faint hopes alive when the action resumes this afternoon.
K yr en wilson also took a 10-6 lead in his match against Joe O’connor while Mark Allen edged 9-7 ahead of John Higgins in a tight encounter.
After an even start, back-toback wins in the 11th and 12th frames put Higgins in front, but Allen then took control by winning the next four frames on the bounce – which included a 94 break – to lead by two.
Stuart Bingham fended off Jack Lisowski’s comeback to also take a 9-7 lead into today’s session.
Bingham extended his lead to 6-3 after taking the ninth frame, but li sow ski responded by taking the next three to claw his way back into contention.
However, Bingham finished strongly to take a two-frame advantage into the final session.