Crucible specialist Anthony McGill reached the quarter-finals of the Cazoo World Championship for the third time in four years, keeping his composure to round off a 13-8 victory over Jack Lisowski.
McGill led 10-1 at one stage of this second round clash before Lisowski battled back to within three frames at 11-8. Unflappable, Glasgow’s McGill took the next two, and progresses to a meeting with China’s Si Jiahui.
Asked how he remains calm in those intense situations, 32-year-old McGill replied: “How can you not enjoy being out there? Sometimes things aren’t going well, but you still have to feel a sense of gratitude just to be there. There are a lot worse things you could be doing than losing a game of snooker. Sometimes you win and it’s even better.
“We are in a theatre and snooker is drama. It’s the best kind of drama, and no one can tell me otherwise. I love it. It’s a shame we don’t play in more theatres because snooker is perfect for it, and this place is the best of all.”
World number 21 McGill needs one more win to match his best Crucible performance, having reached the semi-finals in 2020 when he lost 17-16 to Kyren Wilson in a classic encounter. The Scot will hope that his considerable experience at this stage of the tournament will give him an advantage against debutant Si.
Trailing 11-5 going into the last session, Lisowski took the first frame tonight with a break of 74 and dominated the next as well to close to 11-7. In frame 19, McGill led 43-24 when he misjudged an attempted pot on the penultimate red, and his opponent took advantage with a 33 clearance to narrow the gap to just three frames.
But two-time ranking event winner McGill dominated frame 20, with breaks of 38 and 48, to go 12-18 ahead at the interval. Lisowski might have pulled another one back but missed a red to a top corner when he led 40-3 in frame 21, and McGill made an excellent 58 to reach his 24th career ranking event quarter-final.
“Credit to Jack because he really pushed me hard – he could have been forgiven for giving up at 10-1,” McGill added. “It was a good job I had that lead in the end. If it had gone 11-9 he would have kept the momentum, so to go 12-8 was massive and I played that frame well.
“I would love to go all the way to the final this year. But first I have to beat Si Jiahui and I will really be up against it. He is a world class player. I’ll give it my best shot, just as I have in my first two matches.”
Lisowski said: “Anthony was solid all the way through. I think he can win the tournament. I managed to make a game of it from 10-1 down, at least I gave the crowd something to watch. That’s the only positive I can take out if it because I wasn’t good enough over the three days.
“I need to figure out a game plan for next season. I need a more solid game, I am too patchy. My safety was ok in that match but my scoring and potting weren’t good enough.”
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