Maguire keen to capitalise on others' misfortune

Stephen Maguire admits that the flurry of seeds to have already fallen out of this year’s Travis Perkins UK Championship in York has given him an extra belief that he can retain his title.

The 24-year-old Scot has already seen Ronnie O’Sullivan, Matthew Stevens, Stephen Lee, Jimmy White, Graeme Dott and Alan McManus slip out of the tournament and, with Paul Hunter set to join them, Maguire believes that the title is there to be won.

“When you see Ronnie going out it opens the draw a bit because he’s hot favourite for every tournament he enters,” said Maguire, who beat Joe Swail 9-2 in the second round. “All the boys think the same, that without him it’s a good chance for everyone.

“It was the same last year. It worked well for me with everyone getting knocked out at the first hurdle, so hopefully it can do again.”

For Maguire to progress into the quarter-finals he has to beat Steve Davis, and for once history is against the six-time winner of the event.

Last year Maguire swept past him 9-2 on-route to his final win over David Gray, although he accepts Davis will pose a tougher test this time around.

“I will need to improve. Steve is playing much better this year than he was this time last year,” said Maguire.

“He’s got a lot of match practice and last week he qualified for the Premier League which is a hard thing to do.

“I’ve definitely got that improvement in reserve. In practice I’m playing better than ever. If I can take half of that with me to the match table then I’ll be very dangerous.”

Two men Maguire would need to worry about should he progress past Davis are Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams.

The close friends and practice partners will begin their third-round clash this afternoon.

Such a game would normally be reserved for the later stages of a tournament but due to Williams’ recent poor form, his seeding has suffered and the pair will come head-to-head sooner than either would have expected.

“Mark is a top-four player,” said Hendry. “It’s like a semi-final or a final being played in the third round which is amazing, and that’s obviously down to him but he’ll be back up there because he’s too good not to. It’s going to be an incredibly tough match.”

After overcoming Michael Holt 9-2 in the previous round, Williams claimed that he was getting back a semblance of form, although Hendry says that the two are in parallel positions.

“He’s won one match and so have I. Form isn’t winning matches, its winning tournaments,” said Hendry.

“I told him that he’s lazy at times. Some players have got to realise, I’ve been the same at times, that sometimes you don’t want to practice but it’s your job.

“You’re a professional snooker player and that’s what you’re there to do, to go out and practice. Sometimes people forget that, I’ve been guilty of it too.”