STEVEN MAGUIRE saw off Ryan Day 6-1 to reach the Pokerstars.com Masters semi-finals despite being nowhere near top form.
The match was scrappy throughout, with Day frequently wasting chances to wrap up frames and Maguire taking advantage.
Though the scoreline appeared one-sided, the Welshman was within one pot of reaching the mid-session interval on level terms.
Trailing 2-1, he moved into a 26-point lead in frame four with just the colours remaining – only to jaw the frameball yellow and then watch his opponent clear the colours and pinch the frame for a 3-1 lead.
The same pattern repeated itself after the break, as Day ground to a halt on a break of 44 in the sixth frame. He was again forced to watch a break of 62 from Maguire to the pink allowing the Scotsman to move within one frame of victory.
And a run of 61 sealed a similar seventh frame, and victory, for Maguire.
‘‘The first session was getting to the point of being embarrassing – maybe if one guy knocked in a hundred it might have spurred the other one on, but it was awful,” said Maguire.
‘‘It shouldn’t breally e like that, (if one player misses) the other guy should just pounce.
“I’m not hitting 50 per cent of my game at the moment, that’s nothing against Ryan Day but he knows if he had played his game he would have beaten me.
‘‘I’ve won two matches without playing well – I could have been out in the first round and I could have been out there.
“The first priority is to get through the match, you can always improve in the next match, and I’m just hoping tomorrow (I do).’’
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