The high standard continues at Wembley as the first of the day’s two quarter-final matches saw the players scoring centuries for fun. Click below for more…
Stephen Maguire 6-3 Neil Robertson
Well what can you say, Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson produced a masterclass today but it was Maguire who was just a little bit better and deservedly ran out the 6-3 winner.
The first four frames before the interval were hardly poor, Robertson taking the opener with runs of 60 and 58 before Maguire hit back with the next three to lead 3-1, what what came after the interval was exceptional. Indeed for the first time ever at the Masters, the players made five consecutive century breaks in a row between them as it looked like they could hardly miss a thing.
The final frame in particular deserves special mention however as to win the match Maguire pulled out not just one or two, but three exceptional pots to start what would eventually become a break of 113. His opening red was good enough but an all or nothing black followed by another excellent long pink to the yellow pocket gave him a chance that he never looked like throwing away.
On this form Stephen will be hard to stop but you can say that about almost anyone this week, everybody is playing so well! Neil will be disappointed to have lost but as he said at the end, there was very little he could do about a performance like that from Maguire.
Stephen Maguire 6-3 Neil Robertson 10-123(60,58), 4-97(97), 92(55)-39(39), 95(62)-0, 128(128)-1, 0-122(122), 14-100(100), 105(105)-0, 114(113)-0
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-2 Ali Carter
World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan ran out a comfortable winner in the battle of the Essex lads as Ali Carter could not reproduce his heroics from his opening round match.
Early on it looked like it could be another close one like their match in the Northern Ireland Trophy at the start of the season, but from 2-2 O’Sullivan moved into another gear and with breaks of82, 128, 115 and 91 raced to an impressive 6-2 win, particularly when you consider that he has not had that cue for a week yet.
If Stephen Maguire can play half as well as he did today then it promises to be a brilliant semi-final…