Stephen Maguire potted a memorable 147 as he battled his way past Ryan Day to reach the China Open final. The Glaswegian held his nerve to clinch a dramatic 6-5 victory over Welshman Day, winning the match on the blue in a final-frame decider. But it was in the second frame that the Scot wrote his name into the record books with the first-ever clearance in a ranking event in Asia. He now faces Shaun Murphy after the Englishman’s 6-3 win over Mark Selby. It was not plain sailing for Murphy, who battled back from 3-2 behind to beat compatriot and this season’s Masters and Welsh Open winner Selby at the Beijing Sports Gymnasium.

Selby pocketed breaks of 54, 95 and 132 for a 3-2 lead, but saw Rotherham professional Murphy progress to the final thanks to breaks of 64, 73 and 77. “I’m very pleased to win and to be in the final,” said Murphy. “Now I’ve got the chance to win a trophy. “I showed a lot of patience tonight. Mark is a fantastic player but I decided to hang back and wait for him to make the mistakes.” A disappointed Selby reflected: “I struggled throughout the match, apart from one frame. Shaun wasn’t brilliant either but he deserved to win.” Murphy may have to up his game against Maguire, whose maximum was the second of his career – the first coming in the Scottish Open in 2000. His 147, the 38th in a ranking event and the fifth of the season, will earn him an additional prestige.

Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day

Chateay Productions produced this Wii commercial for Blade Interactive Studios Wii sports title “WSC Real 08″ – the official video game of the World 8 Ball Championship. The commercial captures the spirit of the game which comes with a special Cue attachment for realistic gameplay, and allows players to have fun playing 8 Ball, 9 Ball, 3 Ball Pool as well as Snooker and Billiards, trickshots and much more.

http://www.youtube.com/v/4TIEMoilFCo&f=gdata_videos

Chateay Productions produced this Wii commercial for Blade Interactive Studios Wii sports title “WSC Real 08″ – the official video game of the World Snooker Assosiation. The commercial captures the spirit of the game which comes with a special Cue attachment for realistic gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/v/azzl-GT65J8&f=gdata_videos

Ronnie O’Sullivan made the seventh maximum break of his career at the Northern Ireland Trophy – and set an amazing new record in the process.

The maximum came in the fifth frame of his 5-2 defeat of Ali Carter at the Waterfront Hall and is worth a

James Fretwell in his local snooker club.

“It was nice to give the crowd something to cheer about at the end,” said O’Sullivan. “This is a great venue and a great tournament but my snooker tonight was not great, it was so poor. I played 16 poor frames but everyone now will be talking about the 147 so I feel like I’ve cheated, or taken a short cut. I’d rather have won 9-3, playing solid and not making any unforced errors. “The first black in the 147 was a blind shot but it wasn’t as hard as it looked. It was 8-8 and I felt like I wanted to get something out of the game, to go out in a blaze of glory. Once I got to 40 I decided to go for it, and I felt a few butterflies which was good. “It’s nice to get to eight 147s, I’d like to get to double figures, maybe get one at the Masters and at Sheffield and make four this season.

“Mark had the upper hand for most of the match, he’s a tough competitor, you don’t get to a world final otherwise. At 6-3 I was losing it, really struggling. There was no fluency, no power or finesse in my shots. I was a foot out on some of my positional shots.” As for the match with Maguire, O’Sullivan added: “Stephen said in an interview that he’s been watching me and noticed I’m giving away chances. He’s right, and only a few people would recognise that. I’ve been playing quickly and scoring ok, which has camouflaged the fact that I’m making a lot of mistakes. The bookmakers will make me favourite for tomorrow but I’d make Stephen favourite. If I play like I did today I’ll get beaten because Stephen is a winner.”

Selby said: “It was a brilliant end to the match. I’ve had a good week and I wouldn’t change anything. At 7-5 I had a good chance in the balls and after that it seemed to change.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan finished his 888.com World Snooker Championship match against Mark Williams in glorious style by making a record ninth 147 maximum break. The Crucible crowd erupted as O’Sullivan potted the final ball of his magical maximum, the seventh made at the Crucible and O’Sullivan’s third – he is the only player to make more than one at Sheffield. The Rocket has over-taken Stephen Hendry as snooker’s maximum man, having surpassed the Scot’s record of eight. Chigwell’s 32-year-old O’Sullivan has now made three this season, following 147s in the Northern Ireland Trophy and one in the deciding frame of his Maplin UK Championship semi-final against Mark Selby. This one came in the last frame of a 13-7 defeat of Williams and put him through to the quarter-finals to face Liang Wenbo or Joe Swail. The match looked in the balance going into the concluding session at 9-7, but world No 5 O’Sullivan produced an incredible display of break-building to win the four frames he needed within 44 minutes. Runs of 71, 60 and 100 put him 12-7 ahead, then he split the reds early in the next frame, clearly setting about a maximum from the early stages. He was never out of position, playing a superb shot on the 13th black to dislodge one awkward red from the pink, then dished up easily. Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson stopped their match on the adjacent table in the closing stages of the break, then joined Williams in congratulating O’Sullivan, who will collect a