Jack Lissovsky briefly led Stephen Maguire 3-1 in the second round of the 2021 Snooker Grand Prix, but eventually lost three straight sets to the quarterfinals. Lissovsky said after the game that he had "completely lost focus" at a crucial moment in the game.
Glasgow's Maguire, who has advanced to the quarter-finals in a grand prix with a total prize fund of £380,000, will compete with Stewart Bingham for a place in the final four. World No. 11 Maguire has not earned a title since the 2020 Tour Championships.
Lisovsky scored a 128-point break to concede a black ball at the point when a 47-0 lead in the fifth set was imminent. Maguire saved a match point with a 54-point clearance and scored a single 57 innings of the following 6th inning, with the two sides drawing 3-3. Both players missed their chances in the decider. After An imprecise safety ball from Lissovsky, Maguire scored 77 points to seal the win.
Maguire, who reached the quarter-finals of the ranking round for two consecutive weeks, said after the game: "Jack [Lisowski] must have been heartbroken, he should have eliminated me 4-1, I was not competitive in this game. If you can't kill your opponent in a snooker game, the game won't let you go. The score was 2-3 because I felt a little stronger and he gradually collapsed. ”
"I've struggled a bit in the televised race and I feel like this is probably the first game I've won this season. Today's first game was completely thrown away by me, which is sad, and I have not been able to calm down. But hopefully the final win will give me a chance to restart. ”
Lisowski said: "It was rubbish that I lost that black ball when I was 3-1 ahead. I completely lost my focus today, which is typical of me, and I've been like that all my career. I wasted another opportunity and hit another wall. Ending the game should have been simple, but it wasn't for me. I need to find a way to crack it. ”
Past championship and Masters champion Stuart Bingham also had a "comeback win", winning two consecutive sets 4-3 to Beat Ali Carter 2-3.
Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Hussein Wafi 4-1 to reserve a place in the quarterfinals. The first three innings of the match were very trivial, with O'Sullivan taking a 2-1 lead and locking up the victory with a single shot of 107 and 81 points.
However, O'Sullivan expressed dissatisfaction with his performance after the game: "This is the worst game I have played, the first three sets of the game. If he (Wafi) had played better he would have beaten me 4-0. I made it to the next round and that's all I can say. ”
"I always rely on the fans to play better and have fun with them. I didn't enjoy it at all, it was terrible. If someone played well with me, they would have eliminated me. ”
"You can tell from my results. Usually I can win a lot of championships, and now it's only the quarter-finals and semi-finals. I'm obviously not as good as I used to and I accept this, a lemon can only squeeze out so much juice, I think I'm doing a good job. I can still play in training, but I don't do it very many times in the game right now. ”
O'Sullivan's next opponent will be Jimmy Robertson, who ended LucaBrecere's recent winning streak 4-3. Former European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson has also had a good performance this season, including reaching the semi-finals at the British Open. Jimmy Robertson from Sussex will be celebrating his career 5th qualifying quarterfinal on Friday.
British Championship runner-up and Scottish Open champion Luka Bressell led three times in this match but was equalised by his opponents. Jimmy Robertson, ranked 49th in the world, scored a 64-pointer in the decider.