Maguire defeats Stuart Bingham 9-8 to win fifth ranking title.
Last
night in Newport, Stephen Maguire ended his five year wait for a major ranking title.
In the afternoon session Maguire looked on top, taking a 4-2 lead, but Bingham
fought hard to level at 4-4 going into the evening session.
Bingham continued to control as he won three of the opening four frames to take a 7-5 lead at the mid-session interval. The turning point came in frame 13, Bingham missed a crucial blue to go 8-5 and Maguire cleared to reduce his arrears to one frame.
Maguire had a new lease of life and took the next two frames to lead 8-7 and only require one for the title. In the 16th frame he was in the balls but a thunderous kick cost him and after being put in a good, but not impossible snooker he went for a “hit and hope” shot without any real thought. It cost him the frame to the delight of the Newport crowd and we had a decider which Maguire won with a classy 82 break.
This
will come as a relief to Maguire, five years is a very long time for someone of
his class to have not won a major ranking title. Stuart meanwhile has had
another excellent week and is now an established top 8 star.
The tournament as a whole was a big improvement on previous years, larger crowds and a high quality of snooker was on show. John Higgins and Mark Williams had another poor tournament while there were good performances from Ken Doherty and Alan McManus who both reached the quarter finals.
The tournament as a whole was a big improvement on previous years, larger crowds and a high quality of snooker was on show. John Higgins and Mark Williams had another poor tournament while there were good performances from Ken Doherty and Alan McManus who both reached the quarter finals.
There is only nine days until the next ranking event where Mark Allen will begin his defence of his World Open title.
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