Stephen Maguire hits a fluke to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in quarter-final of 2012 China Open
Snooker fans present at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium arena witnessed one of the most thrilling and tussling encounters of the 2012 China Open snooker tournament as Scotland’s Stephen Maguire ousted the former three-time World Snooker Champion
from England, Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-final encounter by the score line of 5-4.
The Scotsman was 62-62 level with the Rocket when he had the final black re-spotted at the baize and fired a fluke shot in the end to win the ninth set by 69-62. Before that, the whole match up was quite tussling and the result was uncertain until the final
black of the final frame. Maguire has now successfully made his way into the semi-final stage where he will be meeting the 2011-12 Players Tour Championship (PTC) Grand Final winner, England’s Stephen Lee.
Speaking to World Snooker after winning the quarter-final match, Maguire said, “I'm obviously pleased with how it ended. I thought I could have won a little bit more comfortably but it's never easy against Ronnie. All the players know that if you let him
in for one chance then usually he clears up. So lucky enough for me in the last frame there he missed the last red and I managed to nick it in the end.”
The Scotsman added, “All I wanted to do coming over here was to prepare for the World, so no matter what happens now over the weekend, I'm happy with this week and I'll be confident going into the World Championship.”
The Maguire-O’Sullivan quarter-final clash was expected to be a nail biting encounter. The Scottish potter fired a couple of superb breaks of 76 and 57 to clinch the first two frames and grab a 2-0 early lead in the match. O’Sullivan hit back with classy
knocks of 88 and 60 to pull level at 2-2 before the end of the first session.
The second session of the game was also quite tussling as both potters went neck-and-neck and kept the thrill alive. Maguire cruised into 4-3 lead but the Essex Exocet equalised the scores at 4-4 again after he smashed a classy clearance of 102 in the eighth
frame to drag the game into a decider frame where a fluke on the final black brought Maguire on the winning podium.
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