Stephen Maguire reached tomorrow's final of the Maplin UK Championship here by converting a 7-1 interval lead into a 9-5 victory over Shaun Murphy, who has become the provisional world No1 through reaching the quarter-finals or better in eight of his last nine tournaments.
The story of the day was one of too many loose safety shots and a couple of unkind runs of the ball for Murphy and relentlessly heavy scoring from Maguire, including breaks of 69, 61, 106, 101, 77 and three more over 40. Murphy began the evening with a total clearance of 144, the highest break of the tournament, and won four of the first five frames before Maguire clinched victory with his first century of the day, 105.
There has been an edge to their rivalry since an incident at Preston three years ago when Maguire, about to start their match, forgot his chalk. Granted permission by the referee, Maguire left the arena to fetch it but Murphy suggested his opponent had caused a late start and that he should be docked a frame. This interpretation of the rule was enforced and the relationship has been frosty ever since.
They are contrasting personalities. Murphy, a devout Christian, keeps himself aloof from the circuit's sociable aspects and prefers to stay at hotels well away from the tournament venue. Maguire, a more clubbable sort, cheerfully admitted recently that it was "the booze that did me" when his career went into recession after reaching three ranking finals in 2004, winning the European Open and the UK title and losing the British Open.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, back in prime form, will in today's semi-final meet Mark Selby who was enjoying a day's rest after the exhausting 77-minute clinching frame, the longest ever seen on television, of his 9-7 quarter-final win over Marco Fu.