Four-time ranking event winner Maguire took the opening frame after making a break of 40, but Trump hit back immediately after knocking in a break of 51.

Maguire edged in front once again after making a 132 and had chances to wrap up the match, but when he jumped the final brown off the table, he conceded the frame despite trailing by 15 points with 22 on. Referee Jan Verhaas warned the Scotsman for the early concession of the frame.

Trump was presented with a chance in the deciding frame, but he missed a difficult blue to the centre pocket when the score was 24-31. Maguire sealed the win by adding 33 points to his total and book his place in the next round.

“I played well, I just missed a couple,” said Maguire. “The worst was that brown in the fourth frame, although I didn’t think I’d hit it hard it enough for it to jump off the table. I get warned in nearly every match but I’m not going to do it twice. Judd had a chance at 2-2 so lucky for me he didn’t take it.”

In the night’s other match, Martin Gould beat Matthew Couch 3-0, making a break of 89 along the way to advance to the last 16. “I played very well and felt at ease,” Gould said.

At this stage of the season, the Grand Prix would usually be taking place, but the tournament has been rebranded as the World Open and offers a quick-fire and exciting format for the players.

All matches will be best-of-five frames up until the final, where it becomes the best-of-nine frames. All matches will also be played on just one table, and the event offers the prospect of the big names playing one another thanks to the random draw. It is being dubbed as the “FA Cup” of snooker and is something different for the players to get used to.

Some qualifying matches took place last month, with the Scottish trio of Marcus Campbell, Alan McManus and James McBain just some of the players already booking their places in the last-32, as amateurs from around the world had the chance to play against the professional players.

Eleven last-64 matches will take place to decide who will join them, and the random draw has produced some interesting ties. The stand-out tie is the clash between Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott in a repeat of the world championship final from last season, which saw Robertson become the first official world champion from Australia.

The Thunder from Down Under is anticipating another tough match against the Scot. “We all have good times and bad times, but Graeme has bounced back and I am expecting a very hard match. Mind you, at least it won’t go on until 1am in the morning again.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his quest to become World Open champion against Mark King, and Jimmy White, a six-time world finalist, plays Paul Davison. Ding Junhui plays Adrian Gunnell, and reigning Masters champion Mark Selby takes on Barry Hawkins.

Selby believes the short format will be tricky for the established players. “There is added pressure when you are playing best of fives,” he said. “I think we might see some players who are not familiar faces doing well in the event, because the short matches will give the lower-ranked players a better chance. It will definitely be an exciting event to watch for the fans in the arena and viewers on TV.”

Steve Davis reached the quarter-finals of the world championship at the Crucible last season after a remarkable run that saw him defeat then-reigning world champion John Higgins. The six-time world champion plays Peter Ebdon in another fascinating tie. Stephen Hendry takes on Belgian Bjorn Haneveer, and the seven-time world champion is excited about the event. “It’s the one tournament we have in Scotland, and with the new format there’s no doubt it’s going to be exciting.”

Mark Williams, the China Open champion, plays Igor Figueiredo of Brazil. Ali Carter won the first ranking event of the season at the Shanghai Masters last week against Jamie Burnett, and he is on the lookout for his third ranking event title against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Current Premier League champion Shaun Murphy plays Dave Harold, and Stephen Maguire plays Stuart Pettman.

Maguire is delighted to be playing the event in his homeland, and is dreaming of winning it. “With it being in Glasgow, I would love to win it – only winning the World Championship would be better,” he said. “One of the greatest feelings in the world is picking up the trophy at the end of the week. I’ve not had it for over two years, so I’ve almost forgotten what feels like.”

Recently, snooker has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as one of Scotland’s finest Higgins was cleared of match-fixing after tabloid newspaper News of the World had footage of him and his manager Pat Mooney agreeing to throw frames for money.

Mooney was deemed to be solely responsible for the situation, while Higgins was found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute and has been banned until November and fined £75,000. Higgins was also guilty of failing to report an approach from a would-be corruptor.

The Scottish star will be disappointed not to be playing on home soil, but at least he will be breathing a whole lot easier after enduring the worst four months of his career.

At last, all the talk about snooker can be about what happens on the table rather than off it.

The Scot’s convincing 5-2 win against Mark Selby should have been a clear indicator that Higgins meant business in this year’s tournament at the Newport Centre, though; and he duly sprang a surprise by beating the in-form O’Sullivan for a place in the final.

Although this was easily Higgins’ toughest test in the competition, he still needed to overcome the challenge of the 2009 Welsh Open champion, Ali Carter, to land his hands on the rankings event trophy for a second time.

Regardless of his form coming into the tournament’s final, few could have imagined the one-sided nature of the opening session. The reigning world champion stormed to a 5-0 lead – hitting several 80+ breaks in the process – leaving his opponent wondering how to force his way into the match against a man relentless on his pursuit for glory.

Earlier in the day, sport’s focus had been firmly fixed on Britain’s Andy Murray, who despite his best efforts, was comprehensively beaten in the Australian Open final by the great Roger Federer.

It was a similar story in south-east Wales yesterday evening. Carter, assuming the role of Murray, was simply outclassed by Higgins. And when he produces that level of snooker it’s almost impossible to stop the man nicknamed the Wizard of Wishaw.

Higgins took a 6-2 lead going into the evening session; and during the interval the engravers must have been busy carving his name into the trophy because the Scot’s pending victory seemed inevitable.

It proved exactly that. The 35-year-old won the final two frames of the final session to record an emphatic 9-4 victory against Carter and seal the Welsh Open title for the first time in a decade.

This latest win took the 2009 Player of the Year’s ranking event tally to 21 – just one behind O’Sullivan – and he was delighted to win the Newport tournament for a second time.

Higgins said: “I was delighted with the way I played for the first five frames. That was the best I’d ever felt really. I was just properly zoned in.

“It’s hard to win any tournament these days with the quality of players around but I’m over the moon about winning the Welsh Open for a second time.

“The crowd here are one of the best. The Newport Centre is a great arena to play in.”

The three-time World Champion is now expected to overtake the Rocket at the top of the world rankings – if he matches his display at next month’s China Open then he will guarantee his place at the top of the rankings for the start of the 2010/11 season.

Meanwhile, Carter was slightly despondent that he had failed to retain his Welsh Open title, but conceded he had been beaten fairly by the better player on the night.

“I was under all sorts of pressure and I was just glad to make a game of it. I would have been glad to get back to 7-5, but he’s done me 9-4 in the end,” the 30-year-old added.

“The crowd have been great this week and I am disappointed I couldn’t keep my title, but I had a good go.”

The China Open, hosted at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium in the country’s capital, will begin on March 29^th and conclude on April 4^th; and Higgins will be looking to round off a spectacular season with a victory in the far-east, before another World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in May.

Rob Swan.

Not because they’re both Scottish and have the same first name, but because their techniques have certain similarities. They’re both minimalistic, offensive, accurate and extraordinarily gifted. They’re both excellent break builders and natural talents that often leave the audience in awe after clearing the table.

There is however one big difference. Hendry is a remarkably composed player who never allows himself to get too nervous or dwell on previous misses. He is famous for his poker face and will always display perfect sportsmanship. It’s not that he lacks emotions, not at all. There have been interviews when Hendry has been visibly affected by a negative match result. But at the table he usually gives the impression of being as calm as a cucumber at all times.

Maguire on the other hand has had some problems with nervousness and seems to suffer from mood swings during matches. He has the disadvantage of letting misses and frame defeats get to him. This might be due to his young age, but is probably just a part of his character as a human being. That said, there aren’t many snooker players on the tour today that share Hendry’s calm state of mind.

Could Maguire become snooker’s next big star and world number one? Does he have what it takes to win the World Championship?

He certainly possesses the aptitude but will his nerves hold out and allow him to win more big tournaments? In 2004 Maguire was seemingly unbeatable when he took the UK Championship title and Ronnie O’Sullivan predicted that he would be the next world champion.

He won the China Open in 2008 and is ranked number two in the world for the 2009/10 season. There is definitely a lot of potential. So, what are you waiting for, Maguire? It’s time to show them all!

Maguire saw off the challenge of the man now dubbed in some quarters as “the hot-stepper”, Mark King, after his antics in Sunday’s wildcard round match against Jimmy White.

King once again entertained the crowd on his entrance last night – dancing to some rather untraditional, expletive-filled hip hop. But with the beeps in all the right places, none of the crowd appeared too offended by Ice Cube’s aggressive lyrics – or even King’s dodgy dance moves – and saw the funny side instead.

After a 6-2 victory against local hero White, King now faced a far tougher opponent in the form of “the Livewire”, but began the match where he left off against the recent I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant by winning the first frame.

And in the second frame, things got even better for the 35-year-old as a run of 78 put him 2-0 ahead.

It was the next frame where Maguire finally began to gather some momentum and came out the other side of a scrap-fest with the first of his six frames on the board – a 63-18 scoreline pulling back a vital frame for the winner of last week’s Championship League Group A playoff final against Mark Selby.

Then, a brilliant break of 121 levelled the match for Maguire in the fourth. The Scot had well and truly arrived, but King remained defiant, taking the fifth frame 66-54 to take the lead for a second time.

Indeed, the match continued to be blighted by errors and silly mistakes by both players going into the last few frames. Whether it was a lack of concentration or a battle of nerves, neither player truly hit top gear at Wembley Arena last night.

Maguire took the sixth frame, though, with a narrow 59-56, and then took the lead for the first time in the match – taking the seventh frame following a break of 78.

In the final two frames, the 28-year-old Glaswegian racked up an 87 and an 82 in the eighth and ninth frames, respectively, to secure a place in the quarter-finals against either Ryan Day or Joe Perry.

So, the Masters waves goodbye to a man who lit-up the first two rounds with his inspired entrances; while Maguire moves a step closer to winning this prestigious non-ranking tournament for the first time.

Meanwhile, there were no surprises in the final first-round match between Mark Williams and Rory McLeod.

The Welshman reportedly drove through two feet of snow in a borrowed 4×4 from his sponsor, from his home community of Cwm all the way to London, and it proved well worth the treacherous journey as he sealed a 6-2 win over McLeod and his place in round two of the tournament.

The two-time Masters champion never really looked that convincing, and conceded that the match had been “scrappy all round”.

However, the wildcard-round victory means he will now face Ali Carter this evening for a place in the quarter-finals, where the winner will face the conqueror of Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy.

Rob Swan

Although not a ranking tournament, this is still one of the most prestigious tournaments a player can win, just as the name indicates. Only the top 16 are automatically invited, as well as a few wildcards who are determined through a special qualifying tournament. The prize fund in The Masters is the second biggest after the World Championship and it’s also the tournament that has been around the longest after the World Championship.

There have been two main sponsors of the event during the years. Benson & Hedges, a cigarette brand, sponsored The Masters until 2003 when a new restriction on tobacco advertising took effect. The tournament was without a sponsor in 2004 but then Riley’s, a billiard club, became the sponsor for one year. In 2006 Saga Insurance, an insurance company that deals with health, travel, home and car insurance among other things took over.

The first Masters was held in 1975, at the Wembley Conference Centre in London moving to Wembley Arena in 2007, and the winner of this very first version of the tournament was John Spencer, an English player who together with Ray Reardon dominated the game in the 1970s. He played the final against Reardon and won 9-8 after a re-spotted black.  

The player who has won The Masters the most times is Stephen Hendry with his six victories. Between 1989 and 1993 Hendry took the trophy five consecutive times. His latest Masters victory was in 1995. Ronnie O’Sullivan isn’t very far behind with his four Masters wins. Both Steve Davis and the late Paul Hunter have won three times. The latter has almost become associated with the tournament because all of his finals were exceptionally exciting, ending 10-9.

Hunter, who died in October 2006, may be most famous for his Masters victories and it was the biggest tournament he ever won. Jimmy White even started a campaign to have The Masters renamed after Hunter as a tribute. World Snooker, however, decided that The Paul Hunter Scholarship was a more appropriate mark of respect. The scholarship will be used to help a young talented snooker player improve and accomplish his goals. In 2007 a foundation in Hunter’s memory was founded and the Paul Hunter Foundation has since then aimed to give young players, and especially disabled youngsters, an opportunity to play snooker.

Only two maximum breaks have ever been made in The Masters. The first 147 was made in 1984 by Kirk Stevens in the semi-finals, and the second was made by Ding Junhui in 2007 in the wildcard encounter against Anthony Hamilton. The first century ever made in the tournament was made in 1979 when Alex Higgins made a 132 break. Ken Doherty, who had also been in the final the year before, was extremely close to making a maximum break in the 2000 final. He was just to pot the final black ball when he missed it and later lost the match to Matthew Stephens.

In the 2009 Masters the four wildcards were Mark King, Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Ricky Walden of which the latter two proceeded to the knockout stage. The 2008 Masters winner Mark Selby, John Higgins, Maguire Maguire and O’Sullivan were the four semi-finalists. Selby and O’Sullivan proceeded to the final that went all the way to 10-8 in favour of O’Sullivan that managed to take his fourth Masters title. 18 centuries were made during the qualifying stages and 32 during the television stages. The highest break was 140 and was made by John Higgins.

There have been quite a few spectacular finals in The Masters over the years. Hendry has been in eight finals and finished as the runner-up in just three of them. In 1991 he managed to come back after 7-0, winning the match 9-8. Davis made a pretty good comeback in the 1997 final after having trailed 8-4 against O’Sullivan. The match eventually ended 10-8 in the favour of Davis. The 1998 final between Mark Williams and Hendry was decided after a re-spotted black. Hunter is probably one of the most famous Masters finalists after having provided the audience with true nail biters time and time again. In 2001 he managed to win even though his opponent, Fergal O’Brian had led 6-2. In the 2002 final Mark Williams had led 5-0. Paul Hunter then found his form, came back 5-5 and won the tournament. In 2004 he came back and won after having trailed 6-1 against O’Sullivan.

The winner of the first Masters tournament received £2000 in prize money while the victorious player in 2009 received as much as £150,000. The total prize fund was £480,000. 1991 was the first year when the winner’s prize reached six figures.

England has the most wins in The Masters with 14 victories. Wales have won six times and Scotland nine of which six of the victories were those of Stephen Hendry. There have only been a few non-UK victories. In 1979 South Africa’s Perrie Mans beat Alex Higgins in the final and Cliff Thorburn of Canada won The Masters three times and was the runner-up once.

Something about The Masters that is always intriguing is the old and young players and how they are going to do in the tournament. With the prestige involved in The Masters we somehow expect the older players to win time and time again. At the same time we are aware that a shift of generations will be necessary at some point in the future.

A young player that has done very well three years in a row without being able to reach the final is Maguire. In 2007 he lost the semi-final 6-4 to O’Sullivan who won The Masters that year. The year after he came to the quarter final but couldn’t get past Mark Selby.  Maguire then reached the semi-final in 2009 but lost 6-1 to O’Sullivan who went ahead and won the entire tournament. It seems like it would be Maguire’s turn to win this tournament soon. Who knows, if it hadn’t been for O’Sullivan he might have already.

Ding Junhui is another young player that was so close to taking the trophy but let it slip away. In 2007 he made an amazing performance throughout the entire tournament until the final when exhaustion took its toll.

Another young top 16 player who will appear in the 2010 Masters is Mark Allen. In 2008 he came to the third round in the qualifying stages where he lost to Liang Wenbo. The year after, however, he made a quite impressive performance when he, as a wildcard in the tournament, managed to reach the quarter final.

This year’s version of The Masters will have two true veterans in Stephen Hendry and Peter Ebdon. While Hendry’s past performances in The Masters are unprecedented Ebdon seems to have an affinity to quarter-finals. He has been in the Masters quarter-final no less than seven times. His best finish in the tournament were the semi-finals in 1995 and 2005.

The qualifying stages will take place October 26 to 31 2009 and the main 2010 Masters will be held between January 10 and 17 in Wembley Arena and will be broadcasted by both BBC and Eurosport. Don’t miss it.

The Livewire was on top throughout, and won the opening frame after breaks of 33 and 59. The second was slightly less comprehensive for the Glasgow-born player, but Maguire still produced a break of 33 to put victory well within his reach.

He duly grabbed the opportunity with both hands in the third frame – a break of 71 sealing his place into the Championship League winners group.

Maguire sealed his passage into the play-off final in dramatic fashion. He lost the first two frames against his opponent, Ali Carter, in the semi-final but stormed back to win the match 3-2 – producing a quite brilliant 140 in frame three, in the process.

Meanwhile, Selby saw off the challenge of 2009′s champion Judd Trump with a 3-1 victory in the semis.

Trump, the defending champion, had levelled proceedings in the second frame, but a superb break of 128 by the Jester from Leicester in third turned the match on its head. And in the fourth and final frame, breaks of 33 and 43 earned Selby a place in the play-off final.

Although he was defeated, the 2008 Masters winner still amassed £1400 in prize money – the same amount as the Group One winner, Maguire.

The Scot will now play either Mark King or the legendary Jimmy White in Round 2 of the Masters next Monday, and will be hoping his Championship League form will continue into next week’s prestigious tournament, where he will be looking to build on last year’s quarter-final finish.

Rob Swan

Maguire was the first player to come in and play and reached 29 points. Ding made a few short visits to the table only to hand over to Maguire who scored another eight points. Some tactical defensive shots were made but Maguire was the one who won the defensive battle and confidently took the frame.

Frame two was all Ding’s until he missed a red ball. Very unfortunate. After a couple of shots from both guys, Ding managed to take control of the frame again and levelled at 1-1.

The Chinese looked strong in the third frame, playing almost flawlessly and taking the lead at 2-1.

At first Ding seemed to have the upper hand in the fourth frame and Maguire made a couple of mistakes he normally wouldn’t make. After a while though he found an opening and managed to steal the frame from Ding. Very well played by Maguire.

Ding took 68 points with the first thing he did in the fifth frame and left 67 points on the table for Maguire. Maguire managed to snooker him and a small flame of hope was lit but the position of the rest of the reds was too unfavourable and Maguire had to concede the frame.

So far in the match Ding looked like the better player even though Maguire was trailing only one frame. Ding split the balls perfectly at the exact right moment and won the next frame with an 83 break.

At this point, Ding dominated when it came to potted balls, with 100 to Maguire’s 49.

Frame seven began with Maguire snookered on the red balls and fouling twice. More snookers were then produced and Ding fouled as well. Ding then came in on a long red and made some incredible shots to score 31 points. The timer came up to show that Maguire hadn’t potted a ball in 34 minutes. He really had to improve his game if he wanted to even have a chance of winning this. But Ding took command once again and went to 5-2 before Maguire knew it.

Last frame of the session was crucial for Maguire. He could either go to a convenient and more secure 5-3 or a not quite as hopeful 6-2. First thing that happened was Ding missed a long ball and let Maguire in. The reds were well positioned and Maguire split them perfectly. After having barely potted a red Maguire fell out of position though and had to leave over to Ding. However, after a few clever safety shots from Maguire, Ding missed a fairly easy red ball and let Maguire back in to draw closer at 5-3.

For a while Maguire looked disheartened but he managed to pull himself together by the end of the session and reach a not too shabby result.

Commentator Ken Doherty compared the players after the first break and suggested Ding’s typical poker face might give him an advantage to Maguire’s more emotional image.

It remains to be seen if Maguire’s state of mind can change for the better tonight when this thriller of a match continues.

Ding tried to repeat last year’s feat of a maximum break and almost made it, but failed after having potted 12 red balls. Carter on the other hand entered the “century of centuries” club when he made his 100^th century break. Carter and Ding, with Carter leading most of the time, battled each other until the very last frame when Ding finally clinched the victory.

The match between Peter Lines and Stephen Maguire took a more expected turn. The afternoon session ended 6-2 and it looked as if Maguire was going to really outclass Lines. However, Lines managed to take three more frames and the match ended 9-5 in Maguire’s favour. Not too bad a result for a player who hasn’t been in the quarter-final of a ranking event since 1999.

So the world No.6 and No.7 on the latest updated provisional world rankings will meet in the semi-final on Friday. Knowing the capacity of these two players, there will be drama for sure. When Ding and Maguire met in the second round of this year’s Grand Prix at the beginning of October, Ding won 5-1.

Carter opened the first frame with a 124 break and Ding had to remain seated.

In the next frame, Ding managed to take 21 points but then had to hand over the table to Carter who quickly got stuck on a red ball and was forced to play a safety shot. Ding then let Carter in after an unfortunate shot. After a few more turns, Carter went on to win the frame and go to 2-0.

Safety success statistics came up at the beginning of the third frame and showed that Carter’s rate was 100% versus Ding’s 76%. Carter definitely looked hungrier, more positive and more eager. Another frame went to Carter. Ding really needed to sharpen up at this stage and luckily he did.

We were wondering if this match was going to turn into a repeat of yesterday’s encounter between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon when Ding suddenly took command of the fourth frame and produced a 95-10 result to win it.

After the break Ding totally dominated the fifth frame and managed to rack up an 81 break before failing on a difficult red. With that the match was still on.

As of frame number six, Carter’s pot success was 92% while Ding’s was 91%. Ding found an opening and managed to rack up 17 points before missing the pink, giving Carter another chance at the table. But Carter missed the pink as well and the frame could seemingly go to either player when Carter found an opportunity to make some points.

It was around this time that Ding’s eye twitch started to act up. He seems to get it after playing for a while, or when he’s under pressure, but he won’t let it affect his playing. After a few turns with both players at the table Ding was finally the one to come out victorious, 3-3.

At the same time Stephen Maguire played Peter Lines on the other table. Lines really had to work hard in this match but has done very well so far.

A hard and very even first frame went to Maguire. The next frame was almost identical to the first and was also won by Maguire. Lines took the third frame but it could just as easily have gone the other way. Lines then dominated the beginning of the fourth frame and was disappointed when he suddenly missed at 55. But he was soon given another chance after a bad safety shot. Maguire took the next frame and went to 3-2 and before  you knew it he had gone to 4-2.

Both matches will be decided later and give us two semi-finalists.