Stephen Maguire finds form to lead Championship League snooker group as Ronnie O'Sullivan withdraws

ByEurosport

Updated 27/02/2023 at 22:16 GMT

Stephen Maguire has endured a fairly forgettable campaign so far with his run to the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open his best display in a ranking event, but the world No. 36 found some vintage form to lead Group Seven at the Championship League on Monday. The former UK champion also hit a break of 124 to boost his hopes of qualifying for the final winners' group on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Stephen Maguire won three of his four matches to lead the way in Championship League Group Seven at Leicester's Morningside Arena on Monday.

The 2004 UK champion lost his first match of the day 3-2 to fellow Scot Graeme Dott, but recovered strongly with wins over Matthew Selt (3-1), Lyu Haotian (3-1) and Xiao Guodong (3-1) enough to see him finish on three points.

'The Maverick' compiled the highest break of the section so far with a 124 in the opening frame of his win over Lyu, who was a last-minute replacement in the event for world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

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Dott progressed to win his remaining two matches of the day – against Tom Ford (3-2) and Selt (3-0) – to reach three points with Maguire ahead of him on frames won having played one more match.

The top four of the group face each other on Tuesday night in the semi-finals and final with the winner progressing to the final group line-up alongside Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham, Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump, John Higgins and Neil Robertson on Wednesday and Thursday.

The overall champion of the invitational event also secures a place in the Champion of Champions later this year.