The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : O'Sullivan tips Maguire for future glory

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Friday, Apr 23, 2004

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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

O'Sullivan tips Maguire for future glory

SHEFFIELD, APRIL 22. Britain's Ronnie O'Sullivan tipped Stephen Maguire as a future champion after beating the young Scot 10-6 in the first round of the World championship

``Stephen's a great player and he will win this tournament one day -- he might win it two or three times,'' said O'Sullivan, winner of the title three years ago. ``He's got at least 10 years to do it.''

Englishman O'Sullivan, who lost to Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the opening round last year, will face compatriot Andy Hicks in the second round, to be played over the best of 25 frames.

Maguire fancies his chances of proving O'Sullivan right.

``I loved the experience and hopefully I'll be here again next year and for a few more years to come,'' said the 23-year-old. ``I think I could win this tournament in a couple of years.''

Seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry eased through to the last 16 with a comprehensive 10-2 win over Stuart Pettman. Leading 8-2 overnight, the Scot sealed victory with breaks of 117 and 93.

Hendry was thankful of a comfortable passage to the next round, five seeds having already fallen at the first hurdle.

``To come through relatively unscathed is nice,'' he said. ``Whenever you come to Sheffield, you always want a comfortable first round.

``The secret when you play here is to improve and go up a gear every match.''

World No. 12 David Gray held off a strong fight-back from qualifier Ali Carter to prevail 10-7.

Carter came back from 6-3 down to trail by just a single frame at 8-7, only for Gray to seal victory with breaks of 55 and 86.

Crowd favourite Jimmy White was knocked out by little-known qualifier Barry Pinches 10-8.

The scrappy encounter looked set to go all the way when White was well-placed in the 18th frame, but he missed the brown to let in Pinches for a winning break.

White, who has lost all six finals he has played in at the Crucible, said he felt ``played out'' after winning the Players championship nine days ago.

``It took a lot out of me,'' the 41-year-old said. ``I felt a bit drained and never got going. I was all over the place and really struggled, I think I'm just played out.''

Pinches, who had to win two matches to get to the finals, was delighted with the win.

``Beating Jimmy White - it doesn't get much better than that,'' he said. ``It wasn't a particularly high standard. I just hope I can play better in the second round.''

World No. 5 Stephen Lee became the fifth seed to go out in the first round when he was beaten 10-7 by Welsh qualifier Lee Walker.

Walker, a quarterfinalist in 1997, had to win five matches to qualify for the finals. He resumed with a 5-3 lead and then went 9-6 up before sealing victory in the 17th frame.

Seven-times World champion Stephen Hendry has a commanding 8-1 lead over Stuart Pettman.

Hendry, who won his last title five years ago, now needs just two more frames to book his place in the last 16.

The results (first round):

Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) bt Stephen Maguire (Sco) 10-6 (19-110, 67-34, 52-58, 105-16, 0-142 (121 break), 74-61, 73-1, 109 (109 break)-26, 73-34, 17-112 (112 break), 73-68, 61-33, 70-59, 0-111, 6-37, 70-33).

Stephen Hendry (Sco) bt Stuart Pettman (Eng) 10-2 (72-50, 73-9, 37-99, 97-15, 65-28, 89-0, 82-20, 55-29, 71-65, 36-82, 125 (117)-0, 93-33).

David Gray (Eng) bt Ali Carter (Eng) 10-7 (7-97, 52-74, 79-16, 91-17, 97-8, 6-66, 90-43, 73-0, 78-47, 7-54, 56-79, 73-57, 8-77, 72-0, 2-74, 83-30, 90-18).

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