Stephen Maguire books World Championship quarter-final spot after holding off Zhao Xintong comeback
- Planet Sport writer
- 23 April 2022
After taking an early lead, Stephen Maguire had to control his nerves in a dramatic final session to beat Zhao Xintong and book a spot in the World Snooker Championship quarter-finals.
Stephen Maguire ended up using a borrowed cue for his match against China's Zhao Xintong on Saturday, but it had no impact on his play as the 41-year-old Scot reached the final eight.
Maguire started brightly in Sheffield and boasted a 11-5 lead heading into the final session of the match.
Just two frames away from victory, it only seemed a matter of time until Maguire wrapped the match up.
But Xintong, who entered the tournament as the seventh-seed, mounted a remarkable comeback and won four of the next five sets to pile the pressure on Maguire.
At 12-9, Maguire was able to regain his composure though, and a break of 59 ended a dramatic match and saw him progress to the quarter-finals.
Stephen Maguire defeats Zhao Xintong 13-9 to reach the quarter finals of the @Betfred World Championship.
โ World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) April 23, 2022
It's the seventh time he has made the final eight at the Crucible #ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/XHUkrrso2S
The world No.40 has twice been to the semi-finals before, and has now been to the quarter-finals of the World Championship seven times.
The win guarantees Maguire a ยฃ50,000 prize for his progression in the tournament.
After his victory, Maguire joked that he'll need to buy his friend's cue after borrowing it for the match.
"When I played Shaun I was rubbish and Shaun was even worse, so I went back up to Glasgow and made my mind up that I wasn't coming back with that cue because I felt like I had no chance.
"I borrowed my mate's cue and had a couple of days of practice with it and liked it, and it has seemed to pay off. I'll ask my mate how much he wants for it - hopefully not a lot."
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐๐ ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ
โ Live Snooker (@Livesnooker) April 23, 2022
Zhao Xintong 9๏ธโฃ-1๏ธโฃ3๏ธโฃ Stephen Maguire
The Maverick seals the deal to book his place in the QFs. ๐ #ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/bHXcOjNgVc
As for Zhao, the promising 25-year-old insisted he'll return an improved player next year.
"I have confidence that one day I will win this tournament."
"I think I can learn from this experience and next year I will be better.
