Thursday, April 03, 2008

Maguire makes maximum on the way to China Open title

China Open 2008Scotland's Stephen Maguire won the Honghe Industrial China Open.

In the final he was leading Shaun Murphy (England) 9-7 before the Englishman won two straight to force a decider. Maguire then went on to win a very tight final frame on the blue.

For the fifth straight ranking tournament 2006 world champion Murphy reached the semi-finals. The previous four times he didn't reach the final though.

Maguire made a maximum break in his semi-final match before edging Ryan Day (Wales) 6-5. Murphy beat man-in-form Mark Selby (England) 6-3.

This was Maguire's second competitive max. He also made one in the 2000 Regal Scottish Open.

Defending champion Graeme Dott (Scotland) was beaten 5-1 by England's Barry Pinches in the first round. He's having a horrid run. It was his 13th straight loss after reaching the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters in August last year.

Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) is in danger of being disciplined by World Snooker after uttering some very unfitting remarks during a press conference.

This was Maguire's fourth ranking title, and second of the season, having also captured the Northern Ireland Trophy in November.

Maguire received £48,000 for the victory. In addition he got £20,000 for the maximum. Murphy won £22,500 as runner-up.

Although he doesn't advance from his third place spot in the provisional rankings he moves alot closer to the leaders. The top two swap places. Murphy is the new leader, while O'Sullivan drops to second.

The event took place at the Beijing Students University Stadium, Beijing, China, Mar 24-30 2008. It was the sixth ranking tournament of seven on the 2007/2008 Main Tour. Last up on the snooker calendar is the World Championship which starts 19 April 2008.

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Posted by Hermund at 10:59 am
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