2017 World Snooker Championship (Day 9) - Maguire gets quarters spot

Although yesterday was supposed to see (at least in theory) players battling their way for a place in the quarters, one of them was bursting with excitement to reach this stage, Stephen Maguire defeating Rory McLeod 13-3 with a session to spare.

It was clear from 5-0 up that Maguire was in winning-mode and that McLeod would need to step up his game if he wanted to even stand the chance. So on he went with a top break of 73 to win two consecutive frames.

At the end of the first session, Maguire was still the man to beat as he was sitting comfortably at 6-2 up.

When the lads returned, the Scottish player was sure to extend his lead by taking the first two frames of the session and although McLeod pulled back one, it was a one-way street for Maguire who used breaks of 61, 90 and 57 to write his name on the quarter-finalists list, with a session to spare.


Yesterday we also witnessed a real tense and close match, Neil Robertson and Marco Fu crossing their cues for a place in the next round.

The first part of the first session was the only occasion where one player dominated (this being Neil Robertson's case, as he went 4-1 up), but Fu pulled out one of those tremendous comebacks that he knows so well to perform and ended the session on a draw, 4-4.

The second session saw the lads sharing frames, as they went hand in hand up until 8-8 with one more session to be played, tonight from 7pm.

The match between Barry Hawkins and Graeme Dott developed in a very distinct way than the aforementioned one, "The Hawk" holding the upper hand after two session, 5-3 and 10-6; the same way as the reigning world champion, Mark Selby that imposed his superior cue action over China's Xiao Guodong.

Monday's match schedule:

1pm
Mark Selby 10-6 Xiao Guodong
Barry Hawkins 10-6 Graeme Dott

7pm
Neil Robertson 8-8 Marco Fu

*all hours are UK time

Photos credit: World Snooker