Ebdon hangs on for Chinese Takeaway

Peter Ebdon held off a fightback from Stephen Maguire to win a thriling China Open final 10-9 in Beijing.

The 41-year-old 2002 world champion looked on course for a comfortable win when he took a 5-1 lead in the opening session of the encounter. However, Maguire stormed back in the afternoon to level the match at 8-8 and appeared the favourite to go on and lift the title. However, world number 28, Ebdon, hit a break of 103 in the 17th frame to go back into the lead before Maguire levelled again. But, after both players spurned opportunities in the deciding frame, Ebdon stayed calm and came out on top for the £75,000 prize. The win for Ebdon, who also ended the hopes of home favourite Ding Junhui in the semi-finals, is the ideal preparation as he is set to get his World Championship qualifying bid underway later this month in an attempt to reach the Crucible 10 years after his last world title win. Ebdon told World Snooker: "I'm delighted to win. To be perfectly honest, I feel a little bit embarrassed because I didn't handle the pressure very well today, and I feel that Stephen played better than I did, and I feel that he deserved to win. I'm delighted to win, but disappointed with my performance and that I didn't handle things better tonight."