Without suspense, O'Sullivan scored two consecutive sets at the start of the third stage to beat Maguire 13-5 to reach the final four of the World Championships. Such a result can also be regarded as revenge for Zhao Xintong, who he values. Earlier, Maguire eliminated the Chinese star 13-9.
The World Championships Round 3 focus battle was played by world number one Rocket O'Sullivan against 40th-placed Maguire. The two have played each other many times before, but O'Sullivan has an absolute advantage with a record of 19 wins and 4 losses, and even in Crucible, the Rockets have won all three games. So, the Rockets had a huge psychological advantage almost from the start. This advantage is also reflected in the game in all aspects.
In the first stage, the Rockets trailed 0-1 for six consecutive innings, and Maguire pulled back the set before the break to make the score 1-6. In the second stage, the Rockets lost two innings in a row, and Maguire pulled back another set before the break to make the score 5-11.
At the beginning of the third stage, in the 17th inning, although Maguire scored the red ball first, the Rockets seized the opportunity to get started, scoring 71 points in a single shot, winning 71-1, taking the lead in getting the match point. In the 18th inning, the Rockets scored 8 points first, and after the second shot, they directly cleared the table with a single shot of 126 points, and won the last point 134-0.
With a big score of 13-5, the Rockets easily eliminated Maguire and took the lead to reach the final four. Moreover, it took him less than 20 minutes to end the game at this stage. After-game data shows that the Rockets have an offensive success rate of 92%, a long-term success rate of 68%, and ann global success rate of 81%, crushing opponents in all directions.
While reaching the final four, the Rockets also set 3 records:
1. This is the 13th time he has reached the final four of the World Championships, surpassing Hendry 12 times, after he won the championship six times before;
2. This is his 72nd victory at Crucible, the player with the most wins at the World Championship;
3. With the 2 strokes played in this game, the total number of Rockets career hundreds reached 1161, far ahead of other players.