Maguire‘s Outburst Fuels Run at International Championship
An unusual display of frustration from Stephen Maguire punctuated his match against Xu Si at the International Championship this week. Trailing 63-43 in the ninth frame of their best-of-11 encounter, Maguire attempted a snooker, but a misjudged shot resulted in the white ball cannoning into a blue and subsequently dropping into the middle pocket. Visibly angered by the error and conceding the frame, the Scottish player forcefully struck the black ball up the table with his hand, sending it bouncing between the baulk and top cushions before returning to his seat, still demonstrably frustrated.
Despite the incident, Maguire rallied, winning the 10th frame to secure the match. He has continued his strong performance, defeating 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson and Jiang Jun to reach the quarter-finals, where he will face Zak Surety.
The tournament has also seen a stunning upset as Wu Yize defeated world number one Judd Trump 6-4, overcoming a significant 4-0 deficit at the mid-session interval. Wu won six consecutive frames, holding Trump to just 18 points in the latter stages of the match.
“I felt very proud of myself,” Wu stated after the match. “After going 4-0 down I fought shot by shot. The crowd really cheered me up. With all the fans cheering at the end it felt like a moment of true happiness.” Wu has as advanced to the semi-finals with a dominant 6-0 victory over Barry Hawkins.
Wu will now face defending world champion and fellow Chinese player Zhao Xintong, who secured a 6-5 win against Mark Selby – his first victory over Selby in six attempts.
The semi-finals will also feature the winner of the Maguire-surety match against either shaun Murphy or John Higgins. The champion in Nanjing will receive £175,000, with £75,000 awarded to the runner-up and £33,000 for semi-finalists. The tournament,which has been won by Chinese players in the last two years (Zhang Anda in 2023 and Ding Junhui in 2022),will conclude this Sunday. Selby and Trump are both former two-time champions, while Murphy was a finalist in 2019.