Stephen Maguire may have revenge on his mind when he squares off against Ronnie O’Sullivan in their World Grand Prix semi-final on Friday night in Preston. The Scot was ousted by O’Sullivan in the last four of the UK Championship in York in December, with the Englishman going on to defeat Shaun Murphy in the decider. Maguire himself got the better of Murphy in their World Grand Prix last-eight tussle, edging the 2005 world champion 5-2.
Maguire’s highest contribution was a break of 68 in what proved an often scrappy affair against Murphy. He is currently sitting in 17th spot in the race to the Crucible and a strong showing this week could prove to be pivotal as he aims to register a spot in the top 16 on the latest provisional seedings, and avoid having to go to World Championship qualifying to book his spot in Sheffield in April. The Scot was a finalist at the Riga Masters earlier in the season and gave O’Sullivan plenty to think about at the UK Championship, losing out 6-4 to the five-time world champion.
If he wants to book his place in the World Grand Prix decider, Maguire may need to raise his game from the win over Murphy given the imperious display O’Sullivan put on in his quarter-final. He overpowered China’s Xiao Guodong 5-0 in a stunning exhibition that included four centuries and took just 55 minutes to complete. The 31-time ranking event winner clocked up a dazzling 522 points during the five frames of the match, compared to Xiao’s tally of 45, and garnered a 99 per cent pot success ratio in the process.
Maguire is 14/5 to beat O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals, with the ‘Rocket’ priced at 9/2 to repeat his 6-4 success from their UK meeting.