Scottish Open 2021 - Anthony McGill criticises tables after surviving comeback from Stephen Maguire to reach semi-finals
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 10/12/2021 at 15:21 GMT
Maguire struggled from the start in Llandudno, leaving a red free from a loose opening break-off and falling 4-0 behind at the interval. However he re-emerged with greater confidence, and three consecutive frames brought him back into the match, but McGill recomposoed himself to seal a 5-3 victory and reach the last four of his home tournament, this year held in North Wales, for the first time.
Anthony McGill ze 113-punktowym brejkiem w ćwierćfinale Scottish Open
Image credit: Eurosport
Anthony McGill survived a comeback from Stephen Maguire to knock out his compatriot and reach the semi-finals of the Scottish Open.
McGill had never previously been beyond the second round at the Scottish Open, but eventually capitalised on an error-prone performance from his opponent.
The 30-year-old had appeared to be cruising into the last four, leading 4-0 at the interval, but began to play in a nervy manner after the resumption and began to struggle with a table that he felt was not up to scratch.
Maguire forced his way back into the contest with three consecutive frames, but breaks of 52 and 51 secured McGill a 5-3 victory over his training partner.
The 30-year-old revealed afterwards that both players had struggled on a troublesome baize in Llandudno.
"It was tough," McGill fumed to Eurosport. "The table is so bad. It kind of makes us look like fools at times.
"It's not gripping and it is drifting and pinging. I don't know what I am meant to do. I don't know where it is going to go.
"I don't think the tables were very good at the UK Championship, either."
The Glaswegian began superbly, stroking in a 113 break after a loose opening break-off from Maguire left a free red, which was slotted nicely into the corner.
McGill then doubled his lead, the beneficiary of a curious denouement to the second frame as each player went in-off in successive shots - McGill first, having potted frame ball, before Maguire's immediate error meant a 2-0 advantage was swiftly confirmed as both chuckled.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/12/10/3269277-66902808-2560-1440.jpg)
'You couldn’t make it up' - McGill and Maguire in stitches after double error
It was to be a rare early reason to smile for Maguire, who seemed a certainty to get on the board as he took charge of frame three, but eventually contrived to slip further behind in the match after yet more untidy play.
McGill added the final frame before the mid-session interval, with Maguire's high break to that point 27.
Maguire re-emerged looking more relaxed, and appeared on track for a 147 in the fifth frame as he knocked in reds and blacks with new-found composure, developing the reds nicely and with pretty pictures of a maximum beginning to appear.
However a simple missed black off of its spot ended his hopes in the eighties.
That prompted a resumption of a slapdash performance from Maguire, while McGill was also drawn into the sloppiness, with each wasting several chances to take control while amongst the balls in frame six.
Indeed it only eventually went the way of Maguire after the most extraordinary fluke, the 40-year-old both potting the green and generating the brown from off the side cushion in one fortuitous shot, allowing him to clear the table and narrow McGill's lead to 4-2.
And the deficit was then reduced to just a single frame as McGill elected not to attempt to force required snookers.
But twin breaks just beyond 50 either side of yet another miss from Maguire secured the 30-year-old a place in the semi-finals of his home tournament, this year relocated to North Wales, for the first time.
The winner of the quarter-final between Luca Brecel and Matthew Selt will face McGill for a place in the final.
Belgium's Brecel beat the Scot in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship last week.
- - -
Stream the Scottish Open live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live via Eurosport and at eurosport.co.uk
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
/images.sports.gracenote.com/images/lib/basic/geo/country/flag/large/2245.png)