Stephen Maguire, who lifted the trophy in 2004, missed out on the final stages of this year’s MrQ UK Championship as he lost 6-3 to Joe O’Connor in the final qualifying round.
Victory would have set Maguire up for a Glaswegian derby against John Higgins in York, but instead 2022 Scottish Open finalist O’Connor goes through to meet Higgins in the last 32 next Tuesday.
Breaks of 76, 68 and 54 helped O’Connor build a 4-0 lead. Maguire fought back to 4-3 with 72, 119 and 58, but O’Connor took the eighth frame with a run of 67, then survived Maguire’s attempts to land snookers at the end of the ninth by potting the final blue.
“He got me in all sorts of trouble at the end so I was relieved to get through,” said O’Connor, who will be one of four Leicester-based players in York alongside Ben Woollaston, Mark Selby and Tom Ford.
“I feel I’ve been playing well the last few weeks and it’s great to get through because York is such a good venue. It’s nice for Leicester to have four players there and I’m pleased for Tom climbing into the top 16, he deserves to be there.”
Woollaston was down in 69th on the one-year ranking list before this week, but has boosted his tally by £10,000 with a fine run this week. He saw off Lukas Kleckers 6-1 with a top break of 60 and will now face Barry Hawkins.
“Before this I I’d lost five or six matches in a row which I had never done before,” said Woollaston. “So the first win this week was big for me, then I felt really good after that. I watched this event on TV last year and the venue, with the two-table set-up, looked fantastic so I can’t wait to play there.”
Woollaston has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome in recent years but hopes his health is improving. He added: “I’m still not there yet, but in the last three or four months at least I have been able to practise with other players, which I couldn’t do before. I still have bad days – after my previous match I was wiped out so I’m glad I had a day off before the game today.”
Mark Joyce battled past Joe Perry 6-4 to earn a meeting with Mark Selby. Veteran Ken Doherty saw his dream of reaching the final stages disappear as he lost 6-3 to China’s Yuan Sijun. Breaks of 135, 102 and 121 helped Yuan set up a tie with World Champion Luca Brecel.
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