Resurgent Stephen Maguire ground out a 6-4 victory over Ali Carter at the BetVictor Welsh Open to reach his first ranking event final since 2020.
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World number 29 Maguire had not even appeared in a ranking event quarter-final this season prior to this week, but has shown his renowned fighting spirit in Llandudno to make it through to the conclusion. On Sunday he will battle Mark Selby over 17 frames for the Ray Reardon Trophy and a top prize of £100,000, with Glasgow's 43-year-old Maguire aiming for a seventh career ranking title and first since the 2020 Tour Championship.
Back in 2004, Maguire won the UK Championship, and subsequently enjoyed a sequence of nine consecutive seasons ranked among the world's top ten. Since then, highlights have been few and far between, but he recently started work with coach Chris Small for the first time and this week has produced a string of impressive wins.
As an added bonus, his run has boosted Maguire from 41st in the Johnstone's Paint One-Year Rankings into the top 32 and guaranteed him a place in next month's World Grand Prix in Hong Kong. Victory over Selby tomorrow would push him up to 13th on that list and to 21st in the official Johnstone's Paint World Rankings.
The Scot took the opening frame tonight with a break of 84, before Carter won the next two with runs of 118 and 54. World number 15 Carter had a chance to lead 3-1 but in frame four, trailing by 14 points, he missed the final blue to a baulk corner and also sent the cue ball in-off, allowing his opponent to level at 2-2.
Carter regained the lead before a break of 85 got Maguire back to 3-3. In the seventh, Carter was 22 points ahead when he missed frame-ball black to a top corner off the last red, and Maguire punished him by clearing the colours. A run of 57 extended Maguire's lead to 5-3, then Carter's 47 helped him pull one back.
Both players had chances in frame ten, and Maguire established a 58-35 advantage before laying a snooker on the last red. From the chance that followed, he slotted the red into a baulk corner from mid-range and added the points he needed to reach a 14th ranking final.
"It was a scrap from start to finish and I'm very happy to come out on the right end," said Maguire, who beat Stuart Bingham in the final of this event in 2013, two years after he had finished runner-up to John Higgins. "I have done well in the scrappy frames this week because I have not been scoring well, I haven't even made a century. Working with Chris (Small) has definitely helped me. A few months ago I was losing to players who I didn't feel I should be beating me. I made the call to Chris and he stripped my game back to basics. Maybe this is the reward.
"It's nice to be in the World Grand Prix now but for me it's all about trying to win the title. I'll only enjoy it tomorrow if I win."