Congratulations to Stephen Maguire who has won the first Championship League group of the decade with a 3-0 victory over Mark Selby in tonight’s final. Click below for more on the day’s action…
Day Two Results from Global Snooker:
Play-off Final:
Mark Selby (2,000) 0-3 (£3,300) Stephen Maguire
1-92(33,59), 26-66(33), 0-71(71)
World number two Stephen Maguire recorded a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Leicester’s Mark Selby tonight to book his place in the winner’s group later this year. It has been an impressive debut in the competition from the Scot who despite some indifferent results during 2009, I think is on the way back to somewhere near his best form.
Tomorrow will now see Selby, Ali Carter, Judd Trump and John Higgins joined by Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Marco Fu as the race for a place in the winner’s group continues. Whether O’Sullivan uses the purple cue that he has been photographed with remains to be seen…
Play-off Semi-finals:
Judd Trump (£1,300) 1-3 (£900) Mark Selby
61(40)-66, 64(63c)-51, 0-128(128), 0-84(33,43)
Allister Carter (£1,600) 2-3 (£900) Stephen Maguire
62-32, 74(74)-5, 0-140(140), 0-101(101), 27-65(55)
At 2-0 to Ali Carter it looked like the reigning Welsh Open champion would exact swift revenge for the defeat that he suffered on Monday evening but a terrific response from Stephen Maguire saw him hit breaks of 140, 101 and 55 to book his place in the final.
There he will face Mark Selby who took a crucial first frame against Judd Trump from 61-0 down having needed a snooker, before adding a flawless total clearance of 128 in the third frame and smaller breaks of 43 and 33 to secure his final place.
Group Ties:
Judd Trump 3-1 Stephen Maguire
82(74)-41(41), 1-71(58), 78(77)-4, 80(65)-5
Shaun Murphy 3-1 Ryan Day
60(38)-27, 68(31)-40(36), 53(43)-58, 87(67)-30(30)
Allister Carter 0-3 John Higgins
18-85(80), 1-65, 27-55
Mark Selby 3-1 Stephen Maguire
83(83)-46(46), 27-55(37), 71(32)-37(33), 49(40)-5
Judd Trump 3-1 Shaun Murphy
0-109(109), 104(104)-0, 97(97)-0, 82(70)-24
Ryan Day 2-3 John Higgins
72(30c)-60, 93(93)-7, 24-68(68), 37-65(56), 8-89(89)
Ryan Day 1-3 Stephen Maguire
1-110(110), 77(73)-1, 6-98(98), 9-67(61)
Mark Selby 0-3 Shaun Murphy
9-65(30), 40(40)-69(34,34), 6-119(112)
Judd Trump 2-3 Allister Carter
132(107)-0, 44-82, 68(68)-0, 18-110(110), 0-91(91)
Despite losing both of his two matches today against Mark Selby and Judd Trump, world number two Stephen Maguire managed to progress to the play-offs thanks to his excellent results yesterday. There he faces Ali Carter, one of the four men who he defeated yesterday in a tight match and a winner today against defending champion Trump.
The second semi-final sees Trump come up against Mark Selby who recovered from defeat against Shaun Murphy to see off Maguire 3-1 and secure his last four spot as a result.
Finishing fifth to ensure that he will be back in action tomorrow is John Higgins who despite winning both of his matches today could not quite do enough to make the last four.
Ryan Day and Shaun Murphy however will not have a second chance as they both crashed out at the first hurdle, just as happened last year! For Ryan it was a particularly miserable couple of days as he lost all six of his matches, while Shaun could do little better, winning just one contest.