Robert Milkins advances into Round 2 after beating Stephen Maguire in 2012 World Open
England’s Robert Milkins set up China’s Jin Long clash in Last-16 round after he beat Scotland’s Stephen Maguire by the score line of 5-3 in Round 1 of 2012 World Open at Haikou Stadium in the Hainan Island.
The Englishman came back strong from three frames down and cleared the table in the end. Maguire, who was dominating the game in the first session, had no chance to capitalise during the second session. The odds were stacked against the World Number 38 but
he showed impressive form in the competition and proved his class against the World Number eight.
The 30-year-old Maguire had a great start and soon clicked a two-frame lead at 3-1 firing two decent breaks of 75 and 57 at the end of Session 1. Milkins underwent a lot of pressure but still he managed to maintain his game and sprang back into the game
with some outstanding snooker genius. He took four consecutive frame wins potting brilliant knocks of 56, 68 and 58 to claim the match victory.
In his post match interview with the World Snooker, Milkins said, “I was quite fortunate tonight really as he looked solid and in form but he let me off the hook. I made the most of it though but he was a bit generous to me tonight.”
On the other hand, Maguire added, “Robert played well to come back and win. I was 3-1 up but after that Robert was the better player.”
The 35-year-old Milkins has now surged into the second round of the tournament where he will meet Jin Long of China. Long made it into the second round after grabbing a major triumph over the 2012 Welsh Open winner, compatriot Ding Junhui.
Both cuemen are facing each other for the second time in their careers. Previously they were together in the wild card round of 2010 Shanghai Masters where Long defeated Milkins by the score line of 5-3.
As far as the individual performances of both potters are concerned, Milkins definitely surpasses the Chinese because he has played more matches since 2010 Shanghai Masters while Long could not participate in many snooker events.
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