'I am buzzing' - Antrim's Jordan Brown into first major final

The 33-year-old thrashed Scotland’s Stephen Maguire 6-1

Jordan Brown Picture via Eurosport

Jordan Brown stayed ice-cool in the biggest match of his life to reach a first career ranking final at the Welsh Open.

The 33-year-old from Antrim, ranked No 81 in the world, thrashed Scotland’s Stephen Maguire 6-1 at Celtic Manor.

Brown almost fell off the tour last year before salvaging his status and then making his Crucible debut at the World Championship in the summer.

And this marks another massive step for Brown, who will now play for the first prize of £70,000 on Sunday.

Brown, a huge 750-1 outsider for the title at the start of the event, said: “I am buzzing and absolutely over the moon.

“It is great to be in my first ever final but I am here to win the tournament so I won’t be going too mad tonight.

“Things do seem to have clicked for me recently and it all just down to hard work, I practice as hard as anyone on tour.

“I was surprised how calm I was out there given the occasion for me, and have learned so much from practising with Mark Allen at home. He is a real role model of mine.

“You couldn’t really script what has happened to me in the last few months and then again this week, and I have felt like I was on a free roll the last two matches.

“The only thing that is a shame is that normally a load of friends and family would have come over from Antrim for my first final, and with Covid that won’t be possible.

“I think the 135 break in the first frame settled me and also showed Stephen that I was here to play, and then I carried that on through.” Brown needed a good start in the biggest match of his life, and a magnificent break of 135 settled any semi-final nerves.

Maguire, a red-hot favourite to reach the final against a player ranked far lower and lacking all his experience, stole frame two to level things up.

But from that point things started to go badly wrong for the Scot. Brown coolly moved 3-1 ahead with breaks of 56 and 113.

Maguire had chances in the next but fell 4-1 behind before Brown put himself on the brink of the final coming from behind to take frame six with a run of 59.

And he then quickly closed things out to seal an emphatic victory.