China Open 2012 (Day 6) - On-fire Maguire to meet legend Ebdon in final

Maguire lands in final

Scotland's Stephen Maguire was the first player to book a place in tomorrow's China Open final after beating Stephen Lee by 6-2, hours later the final last spot getting Peter Ebdon's name on it as the Englishman outclassed the local Chinese star, Ding Junhui by 6-3.

The first semi-final of this year's China Open tournament saw the two "Stephens" of snooker engaging in what seemed at the beginning as a close battle of cues.

Maguire started by taking the first two frames with a top break of 76, but Lee was sure to come back and draw level with runs of 67, 47 and 39.

Ooops!

After the 15-minute break the Scottish player regained his leading position after hitting in breaks of 51 and 53, from this point on, Lee being mostly kept in his seat, a definitely on-fire Maguire potting like a madman and cruising easily towards victory with runs of 66, 71 and 91.

It was clear victory of 6-2 that Maguire obtained over Big Lee and a very well deserved one, this being the second time the Scotsman books himself a place in a major ranking event final this season (the first one was the German Masters) and the third one if we are to count the PTC 12 event, which he won.

Ebbo is in a wonderful form

A more long and tactical battle of cues was given between China's Ding Junhui (who turns 25 on April 1^st) and England's Peter Ebdon, the last named one prevailing with a well fought 6-3 scoreline.

Although the match started really well for the 2012 Welsh Open champion, Ding flying at 3-1 up after firing in breaks of 87, 49 and 83, after the break Ebdon put his cue into action, slowly but efficiently, to get back in the match at 3-3 by using runs of 54 and 69, but also to take the lead for the first time since winning the opening frame.

A nice and steady break of 68 was throwing Ebbo just one frame way from victory, at 5-3, while a set of 64 and 58 were securing him a long waited victory.

The birthday-boy, Ding Junhui not very happy to lose

Peter won the World Championship in 2002, but it's interesting to see that the last ranking event final that he reached was the 2009 China Open, when he beat John Higgins 10-8. At the same time, his green baize rival whom he's meeting tomorrow in the final, Stephen Maguire, is no stranger from winning this tournament either, the Scotsman writing his name on the trophy the year before, in 2008.

The final will be played under "the best of 19" rule as it follows:

07:30 First session
Stephen Maguire v. Peter Ebdon

12:30 Last session
Stephen Maguire v. Peter Ebdon
 *all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

07:30 - 10:30 British EuroSport (LIVE)

19:45 - 21:45 British EuroSport