Maguire battles to victory over Carter in first round at the Crucible

Stephen Maguire marked his return to the Crucible for the first time since 2022 with a battling 10-7 win over Ali Carter.

The Scot has an enviable World Championship record, with a host of quarter-final and semi-final appearances.

After battling through qualifying, he arrived match-sharp and that stood him in good stead as he battled back from 5-4 down after the first session to take down this season’s Masters runner-up.

Carter made a positive start to the final session with a break of 63 in the opening frame of the night but missed frame-ball red.

A Maguire counter faltered when he failed to gain position on the penultimate red, seemingly paving the way for Carter to extend his lead.

Carter had two other bites at frame ball, one easy, but both failed to drop. His potting troubles gave encouragement to Maguire, and the Scot produced an astounding clearance on the colours – yellow and green were exceptional pots – as he drew level at 5-5.

‘Unbelievable, brilliant’ – Maguire pulls off stunning clearance of colours against Carter

There were some alarming misses from Carter in the 10th and that continued in the 11th. But, after opening up a lead, he was able to edge over the line to restore a one-frame lead.

Maguire looked strong in mopping up the colours in the 10th and he attacked his break in the 12th with a similarly forward-thinking mindset. The two-time Crucible semi-finalist took the attacking option when potting his opening colour – a brown to left middle – and he made 69 to get back on level terms.

Carter steadied what appeared to be a listing ship with a hard-working break of 48, which came after Maguire pulled off a miracle escape from a snooker.

‘What a shot’ – Maguire makes amazing escape from a snooker against Carter

The number was nothing to shout about, but it was made with authority and proved enough for him to get back in front at 7-6 heading into the final interval.

The arm-wrestle continued in the 14th as Carter got in but lacked any sort of cue-ball control and broke down.

Maguire, who benefited from a huge fluke at the start of the frame, inherited a favourable table and he made the most of it with a break of 55 to draw level.

Maguire benefits from huge fluke against Carter

The 15th frame saw Maguire get his nose in front for the first time since the fifth frame, and he did it in impressive fashion with a run of 80 – his highest break of the session.

Carter’s potting was not sharp on Sunday evening and he presented a chance to Maguire in the 16th after wriggling a long red.

Maguire did not close out the frame at the first time of asking, but returned to the table to make 45 to get within one frame of victory.

Carter’s match was summed up in the 17th as he missed two pots – one tough and the other easy. Maguire made 35 off the first chance and 21 off the second.

The match was not mathematically beyond Carter, but he looked a spent force and a further miss saw Maguire edge to the stage where his opponent required snookers.

Carter played on, but Maguire held his nerve to secure his place in round two where he will face either Shaun Murphy or Lyu Haotian.

Ford eases past Walden to set up Trump showdown

Tom Ford set up a clash with Judd Trump by wrapping up a 10-6 win over Ricky Walden.

Ford was comfortably the better player over the two sessions and was never threatened.

Returning with a 6-3 lead, Ford won the opener with a break of 80.

Walden took the next two but Ford won the frames either side of the interval and cruised to the winning line of a match played in good spirit, with Walden tapping his opponent’s cue by way of a concession in the 16th frame.

Walden concedes match by flicking Ford’s cue at World Championship

Stream top snooker action, including the World Snooker Championship, live on Eurosport and discovery+