Maguire lifts SangSom 6-red
World Championship trophy for 2014
Bangkok, September
7
-- Stephen Maguire of Scotland finally ended the English stranglehold of the
SangSom 6-red World Championship when he staged a fantastic fight back to edge
out Ricky Walden 8-7 in this year's final at the Montien Riverside Hotel on
Saturday night (early Sunday morning).
All the previous five events had been won by England players with Walden
himself lifting the trophy in 2008.
Maguire, ranked No. 13 in the
world, had been staring at defeat before he took three frames in a row to
cruise to the victory that earned him a big payday of 2.5 million baht. Walden
took home one million baht for finishing runner-up.
Maguire, a winner of five world
ranking events, had been having a tough time on the professional circuit as he
had not been able to reach a single final for more than a year. It all changed
in Bangkok on Saturday night.
"I am happy that I have won,"
said Maguire. "I have been
here twice before but didn’t do very well. I had not been hoping for anything
big this time as well and was only looking forward to have some good
practice."
"I played better in the last
three frames than I did in the entire match. I took my chances and I believe
that turned the match in my favour."
"There are lots of good players
on the professional circuit and it's not easy anymore. I am trying to get back
into the Top Four, but it doesn’t seem to be possible this year."
It was in fact Walden, the world
No. 12, who had started off in a confident mood and set the pace in the title
showdown of the baht 8 million championship.
Walden opened up a 2-0 lead but
only to see Maguire take two frames on the trot with the help of a 73-point
run in the fourth frame to get level at 2-2.
Walden was back to work again and
grabbed the next three frames to gain a massive 5-2 advantage but a fine
display of potting allowed Maguire to eventually narrow the margin to 6-5.
After his opponent had captured
the 12th frame, Maguire turned the heat on in the last three and stole the
title from right under Walden’s nose.
Both players are now set
participate in the world ranking Shanghai Open event which starts on Monday.
RESULTS
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