‘Garbage’ Lisowski Falls To Maguire
Jack Lisowski admitted he “totally lost concentration” at a key moment as he let slip a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3 to Stephen Maguire in the second round of the Cazoo World Grand Prix in Coventry.
Glasgow’s Maguire goes through to the quarter-finals of the £380,000 event and will face Stuart Bingham on Friday afternoon. World number 11 Maguire is chasing his first title since the 2020 Tour Championship.
Lisowski built a 3-1 lead today with a top break of 128 and looked to be cruising to the winning line in frame five until he missed the black off its spot at 47-0. Maguire stole that frame with a fine 54 clearance and added the next with a 57 for 3-3.
Early in the decider both player missed chances, Lisowski failing on a tricky thin cut on the yellow to a top corner. The Englishman later played a loose safety, which let Maguire in for a match-winning 77.
“Jack will be devastated, he should have put me to bed 4-1, I wasn’t in the game at all,” said Maguire, through to his second consecutive quarter-final having reached the last eight of the BetVictor Scottish Open. “The balls don’t forgive you in snooker if you don’t put the other guy away. When it went 3-2 I felt stronger and he fell apart.
“I have been struggling on the TV table, I think that’s the first match I have won on it this season. I gave away the first frame today which was pathetic, and I didn’t settle. But hopefully getting the win in the end will give me the chance to kick on.”
Lisowski said: “I missed that black at 3-1 and after that it was garbage. I totally lost my concentration which is typical of me, I have done it throughout my career. I fudged the chance and another one bites the dust. Finishing matches off should be the easy bit, but not for me. I have to figure out how to get these things tucked away.”
Former World and Masters champion Bingham came from 3-2 down to beat Ali Carter 4-3.
Ronnie O’Sullivan secured a quarter-final place with a 4-1 win over Hossein Vafaei. The match started with three fragmented frames, O’Sullivan taking a 2-1 lead before stepping up the pace to win the last two with breaks of 107 and 81.
However, O’Sullivan was concerned by his own performance. “That was as bad as it’s ever been, the first three frames. If he’d have played better he would have beaten me 4-0,” said the six-time World Champion. “I’m into the next round, that’s about all I can say.
“I’ve always played off the fans, fed off the fans, I get a bounce in my step, that’s the enjoyment I get from it. There’s no enjoyment stinking gaffs out like that, that was horrendous. If someone plays alright against me, they’ll put me away.
“It shows in my results. Usually I win a lot of tournaments, now it’s quarters and semis. I’m obviously not as good as I was and I accept that, there’s only so much juice to be squeezed out of a lemon, I think I’ve done pretty well. I can still do it in practice, just not so much in matches these days.”
O’Sullivan’s next opponent will be Jimmy Robertson, who ended Luca Brecel’s hot streak with a 4-3 victory. Former European Masters champion Robertson has had a fine season so far, highlighted by a run to the semi-finals of the British Open, and the Sussex cueman is now into the fifth ranking event quarter-final of his career.
Brecel, runner-up at the Cazoo UK Championship and winner of the BetVictor Scottish Open, led three times today but couldn’t pull away. World number 49 Robertson took a scrappy sixth frame for 3-3 then won the decider with a break of 64.