Highfield Beats Maguire To Earn Riga Trip
Stephen Maguire was runner-up at the Kaspersky Riga Masters two years ago, but he misses out on the trip to Latvia this time as he lost 4-2 to Liam Highfield in the qualifying round in Sheffield.
The qualifiers run until Thursday this week at Ponds Forge, with the winners going through to the last 64 in Riga, with the final stages running from July 26 to 28.
World number 16 Maguire was runner-up to Ryan Day in this event in 2017, but today lost to a player ranked 45 places below him. Stoke’s Highfield knocked in breaks of 95, 60 and 83 during an impressive performance.
Lukas Kleckers
Former World Champion Graeme Dott came from 2-1 and 3-2 down to edge out Robbie Williams 4-3, compiling runs of 97 and 61.
Poland’s top player Adam Stefanow made a break of 69 as he scored a surprise 4-0 victory over two-time ranking event winner Michael White.
It was a good day for the continental Europeans as Germany’s Lukas Kleckers saw off Riley Parsons 4-2 and Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher beat Hamza Akbar 4-1.