Ronnie O'Sullivan on brink of World Championship semi-finals place after making light work of Stephen Maguire

ByJames Hilsum

Updated 26/04/2022 at 22:18 GMT

Despite looking out of sorts for much of the second session, Ronnie O’Sullivan closed on the World Championship semi-finals after stretching his lead over Stephen Maguire to six frames. He will return on Wednesday (10:00 BST) bidding to secure the final two frames he needs to book a semi-final meeting with John Higgins or Jack Lisowski.

Ronnie O’Sullivan left himself within two frames of reaching the World Championship semi-final after taking an 11-5 lead in his quarter-final against Stephen Maguire.

O’Sullivan headed into the evening session with a 6-2 lead, but Maguire fought back to take the first frame of the session with a break of 62 and then followed that up with another of 73 to claim the 10th frame.

The Rocket responded with a break of 64 in the 11th frame, which he followed up with a further break of 55 to restore his four-frame advantage at 8-4.

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Maguire had chances in these two frames, but failed to capitalise on these openings as the six-time champion restored his healthy lead.

In the next frame, O’Sullivan posted a break of 69 to take it and followed this up with a break of 94 to take a commanding 10-4 lead and move within three frames of victory. There seemed to be no stopping him now, as he took the next frame with a break of 73.

However, the final frame of the evening session went to Maguire, who rallied well to take it with a break of 66. Maguire's task on Wednesday morning remains unenviable: clinch eight frames before O'Sullivan wins two.

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Yan Bingtao needed to reduce the arrears quickly against Mark Williams and delivered by winning the first two frames comprehensively 84-1 and 119-22 respectively, with a break of 80 in the latter.

Williams recovered in the 11th frame to win it 66-25, but Bingtao with a break of 72, took the 12th frame 75-48 to cut the deficit to 7-5.

Bingtao took the 13th frame with a break of 103 and followed it up by winning the next frame 62-21 to level the score at 7-7 with everything to play for.

Bingtao then moved 8-7 ahead to with 67-20 win in the 14th frame, before Williams won the 16th frame 63-38 in this topsy-turvy encounter.

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