Snooker results: Stephen Maguire beats Mark Selby in Players Championship
Stephen Maguire held off a stirring comeback from Mark Selby to win their Players Championship quarter-final 6-5 in Southport.
Maguire needed to hold his nerve when nosing out Ding Junhui in a final-frame decider in the previous round and it took more nerveless snooker to allow the Scot to progress to the last four, Selby rallying from 4-1 and 5-4 behind to very nearly pull off a memorable heist.
As it was, Maguire held himself together remarkably well to produce a break of 53 in frame 11 that did the bulk of the work before he resisted Selby's desperate attempts to claw back the three snookers he required.
When Maguire produced breaks of 67 and 73 to race into a 2-0 lead he looked set to enjoy a carefree afternoon, particularly after edging a closely-contested third frame that Selby would have been disappointed not to steal.
However, this season's English Open and Scottish Open victor responded in typical fashion in frame four, finally getting a foothold in the match before Maguire fired straight back to extend his lead to 4-1.
To his credit, Selby came back for more and put together contributions of 68 and 87 to win three frames on the bounce to draw level and leave Maguire stunned.
A run of 79 in frame nine stopped the rot for Maguire but Selby scrapped and snarled his way to victory in the following frame, setting up a grandstand finish.
When Selby managed to pot a tricky opening red via the side cushion, he would have been forgiven for hoping for much better luck with position and following the lengthy safety exchange that followed, it was he who blinked first, affording Maguire a chance to win the match he never looked like turning down.
On the other side of the draw, 20-year-old Yan Bingtao held off a determined Joe Perry to take his quarter-final spot in dramatic style.
The Chinese recorded breaks of 100 and 90 in consecutive frames as he led 5-2, but a 72 from Perry in the ninth was part of a run which saw him force a deciding frame which Yan took on an all-or-nothing black.
He progresses to a Saturday semi-final against either Shaun Murphy or Mark Allen, with Maguire facing Trump on Friday evening in the other semi-final.