Rocket beaten in China

Stephen Maguire is through to the semi-finals of the China Open after beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-4 on a re-spotted black.

Maguire took the first two frames in the best of nine quarter-final with breaks of 76 and 57, only for crowd favourite O'Sullivan to level before the interval with breaks of 88 and 60. But the Rocket could not get his nose in front and, after the re-start, Maguire took the lead twice, going 3-1 and then 4-3 up before the two-time world champion again got back on terms with a century break. In the deciding frame, O'Sullivan chalked up a 54 and was up 62-29 but missed the last red, leaving an easy pot for Maguire who cleared up well and took the match to a re-spotted black. After O'Sullivan played a safety shot, the Scotsman attempted a cross-double to a centre pocket which missed, but went across the table and dropped into the opposite middle. A relieved Maguire later told worldsnooker.com: "I'm obviously pleased with how it ended. I thought I threw a few frames away early on in the match. I thought I could have won a little bit more comfortably but it's never easy against Ronnie. "All the players know that if you let him in for one chance then usually he clears up. So lucky enough for me in the last frame there he missed the last red and I managed to nick it in the end." Maguire now meets Stephen Lee in Saturday's semi-final.