"The Great Escapes" Top of the Bill in Newport
Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire both pulled off remarkable victories at the Welsh Open in Newport, to book their places in the quarter finals, at the expense of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junghui.
Hong Kong's Marco Fu enjoys one of the best records of any player against World Number One O'Sullivan. Prior to today's match the pair were 7-7 on their previous Head to Heads.
It didn't look too promising for Fu as O'Sullivan went 2-0 up with runs of
48 and 61, despite never hitting top gear. But Fu responded with 117 to remind O'Sullivan what he capable of.
The World Champion added another break of 48 to stretch his lead fo 3-1 at the interval.
But then the errors crept in. First an over cut red left Fu in to take the fifth frame. A miss on an easy pink in the next gave Fu the chance to step in with 93 and level the match.
O'Sullivan contributed two pot reds in the frame seven and Fu's 47 was enough to give him the lead and then he rounded over a memorable victory, in style, with 115.
Stephen Maguire up against Ding Junhui always promised to be a high quality match and so it proved.
Maguire started the brighter, a century, 101, in the opener was followed up with 64 in the next.
Ding bounced back with runs of 45 and 76 and then widened the throttle to surge 4-2 ahead, with break of 52 and 94.
He looked set to clinch the match, a run of 69 on the board, but he needed one more pot for victory and never got a chance, as Maguire made a clinical
71 clearance to stay in the match.
Maguire ran in 52 without reply from Ding to bring the scores level, and he left the Chinese cue star scoreless in the decider, with a match winning 75 break.
Allister Carter led Graeme Dott five times in the match, with breaks of 74, 119, and 69, but he was forced to a decider by the resilient Scot who contributed efforts of 52, 42, 63, and 64 to the scoreboard.
Carter opened with 67 in the decider to leave Dott needing snookers, which the Scot was unable to obtain.
