Tough launch for Rocket
Ronnie O’Sullivan enters the fray when the televised stages of the Travis Perkins UK Championship begin in York tomorrow – against the player he claims is currently the world’s best.
That is not Paul Hunter, Stephen Hendry or any of the other household names. The world number one refers to Scottish youngster Stephen Maguire, his conqueror at last week’s British Open in Brighton where O’Sullivan’s hopes of winning every ranking title this season were ended.
After Maguire’s 6-1 semi-final victory, O’Sullivan – whose mentor Ray Reardon had wagered his charge would go through the eight ranking events unbeaten – made some flattering comments about the 23-year-old.
Even though Maguire was subsequently beaten 9-6 in the final by John Higgins, it was obvious the Glaswegian has now risen into the upper echelons of the game - and his provisional ranking is number seven.
“A few times when I have played Ronnie he has said nice things about me,” said Maguire, whose opening match of this tournament resulted in a straightforward 9-2 success against Mark Davis.
“At Brighton it was the first time I had beaten Ronnie, and the way I did it was quite good – so he will be up for revenge.
“I plan to make a good start. If I can get ahead of anyone I’m confident I can finish them off.
“Ronnie will come out with all guns blazing, and it will be a tough match. But if I can beat him then the draw will open up for me.”
Like O’Sullivan, defending champion Matthew Stevens has had to wait nearly a week longer than some of the competitors to hit his first shot in anger but finally gets under way against Joe Perry.
The Welshman, who beat Stephen Hendry 10-8 in the final last year, has a worrying tendency to fall at the first hurdle in tournaments – but equally when he gets into his rhythm he can be a very difficult man to conquer.
“I’ve lost a few first-round matches, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve been playing badly,” said the 27-year-old from Carmarthen.
“There are so many players capable of producing a very high standard these days. I lost 5-1 to Andy Hicks in my first match this season and I might as well have been playing Ronnie O’Sullivan – because Andy didn’t miss a ball.”
Stevens’ countryman Mark Williams is another player who was spared having to play in the booths during the opening week of competition and the two-time former world champion begins his campaign against Barry Pinches.
That leaves one more second-round tie yet to have commenced – and it features Hendry, five times the UK champion, and Kent’s Barry Hawkins.
