Day nine at the championship and with no match scheduled to finish today,a quiter day than yesterday was always on the cards.
I say no match scheduled to finish today,but that was not quite how it worked out as Stephen Maguire continued his smooth progress through the championship with a 13-3 victory over Rory McLeod.
There was always the danger,that, after his heroics against Trump, this one may have a feeling of"after the Lord Mayors show" for McLeod and so it turned out as he never settled against an opponent brimming with confidence.
Maguire has now reached the quarter finals at the Crucible,losing only five frames so far at the venue & will enjoy his Monday off as Barry Hawkins & Graeme Dott battle it out to face him in the last eight.
For a brief period tonight Hawkins may have also held out hopes of a Monday off when he held a 9-3 lead,but Dott wasn't done for yet and he roared back to 9-6.Hawkins though will certainly be sleeping a little easier after taking the last of the session to lead by four again over night at 10-6
Also holding a 10-6 overnight lead is our defending champion Mark Selby,who shared another efficient if not brilliant session today against Xiao Guodong and is well placed for another last 8 appearance.
The one potential bit of drama tomorrow might well come in the Neil Robertson v Marco Fu match as these two go into their final session locked together at 8-8. Of the two Fu will certainly be the happier as it was he who trailed 4-1 in the first session before taking the last three of the session to level it at 4-4.Then followed a night where neither could pull away,leaving things nicely poised going into tomorrow.
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