Day 2 Masters Snooker Highlights

Hello, and welcome to Alexandra Palace for highlights of day two of

the 2014 Masters. In a few minutes, we'll find out if Stephen Maguire

could hold off the challenge of Joe Perry, after we've shown you the

best of the action of a brilliant match between Judd Trump and Marco

Fu. The crowd here treated to an absolute cracker.

They've broke absolutely superbly... It's Marco Fu who takes the first

frame... The good, long pot, it has to be

said... Green, brown and blue needed for a

3-1 lead at the midsection interval...

He's missed it. Excellent pot on the pink! What a

frame that was! And a check! He leads Marco Fu by

four frames to three! Wonderful shot. Absolutely

inch-perfect on the blue. 101 to send us in all square - 5-5.

This is his chance... And Judd Trump now fearing the

worst... Judd Trump leaves the arena very

disappointed. Marco Fu will be over the moon.

I just hung in the match. I couldn't believe I was 5-4 up, cos the way

Judd was playing, he probably should have been 5-4 up. I just took my

chances quite well today, and in the deciding frame, I just needed a

chance, which I got at the end. It was a very nice feeling to be able

to win in one visit under pressure. Could have gone either way, really.

Think my safety was very good. Created a lot of chances. And Marco

- he did play a bad shot a couple of times, but he got away with it.

You've just got to keep your head up and look forward to the next

tournament, and hopefully it changes. I felt quite confident even

at the end. It's nice to be able to beat Judd, because he's a very good

player. So, great drama here at the Masters.

Marco Fu through to the quarterfinals. Could Stephen Maguire

book a place in the last eight? Maguire has won five ranking titles,

including the UK Championship way back in 2004. The UK Championship

was like a hundred year ago for me. I can't really remember much about

it. I've not really been - although I've been, I think, one of the top

eight or whatever, I've not been one of those players that's, you know,

won a lot of tournaments compared to some of the other boys over the last

three or four year. For me, one of the majors just now - especially

this week - that would be better than winning the UK ten year ago.

Maguire has never been beyond the semifinals at the Masters, losing to

Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2007, 2009, and Mark Selby in 2010. His opponent,

Joe Perry's last appearance at the Masters was in 2010, where he was

beaten at this stage by Ryan Day. He has never made the last eight of

this tournament. Maybe this is his year - Perry won the first Asian

tournament of the 2013-14 season, beating Mark Selby. He reached the

quarterfinals of the Australian Open and got to the semifinals of the

international championship. We pick it up in frame one - Perry to play,

no score. Your commentators John Part and Dennis Taylor.

Not the best safety there from Joe, especially with if that red next to

the blue goes to the right corner. That was pretty careless. It was a

straightforward safety shot. The yellow's just in the way

slightly here. You know what Stephen Maguire wants

to do - he's such an attacking player. If he sees half a chance of

a pot, Heat take it on. Excellent.

APPLAUSE Really is.

Slightly off-putting when he got a ball like the yellow was there.

Slightly hampering your cuing. But he hit that superbly well.

Already, this is a good chance. He's been in the semifinals on three

occasions with the last three visits to the Masters, as we show you the

distance that that pot was. Worth another look. He's lost in the fist

round in the last three Masters. All very close matches. He'll be wanting

to go a little bit further this year.

Delicate cannon needed on the red to the right of the black just above

it. He left himself in a position where

he's got a choice of reds - take your pick!

One of those opportunities, Dennis, where you'd just love to win the

first frame in the fist visit you get to the table - a scoring

opportunity really settles you down and tells your opponent that you're

here to play. If you make a mistake, it's going to be punished.

? Sometimes you can go three or four frames and not get a chance around

the black spot area. It was Joe's fist safety that left the chance.

Joe could have had a go at the red that Stephen finished up potting,

but he didn't want to play that one. He thought he'd play a good safety.

That was careless, to cannon the yellow.

Poor shot, really. It's a tricky little cutback. Look at the

determination in those eyes. Looking at the way he's coming off

the bump - if Stephen Maguire has a chance on the blue here, the pack is

looking absolutely beautiful. Really well struck. Little bit

thinner than he would have liked. He played that really well down the

bottom of the cue ball there, you can see. Hit them absolutely plum. I

think the one on the right-hand side is definitely available if he just

chips that in the corner beyond the black. It will definitely be a

frame-winning opportunity. Don't know whether that's a little

bit thin. He's decided he's going to take the

one closer to the cue ball up to the blue. I don't really blame him for

that. That's nice...

This is an absolutely superb start by Stephen Maguire. The ball here

being hit with real authority. He looks in fine fetal.

E Always nice to get off to a good start - this could be a

frame-winning start. At the moment, Stephen Maguire is alliving up to

his nickname, 'On Fire' Stephen Maguire. Hasn't been on fire

consistently for the last couple of seasons. But he's back at world

number five, and this is very impressive.

Another thing you want to do with this start he's had here - try and

make a total clearance. Joe, sitting in his chair, made that mistake. If

he misses now, he might knock a few balls around and have a practice. If

you keep him off the table as long as you can in the fist frame, it all

helps. -- in the first frame, it all helps.

APPLAUSE Yeah, we've had a 136 break

yesterday, then Marco Fu superseded that with 138 this afternoon.

?10,000 for the highest break here, so that's not to be sniffed at.

If he could drop this black in here, play for the red up the back for two

- there you go, he's played it that way. I thought he could have run

through there, played the back red and flicked the other red off the

side cushion if he wanted, but he's gone about it in a different way.

Doesn't really matter - it's job done, as far as the first frame is

concerned. Very impressive. Whether he decides to move that red

or drop in behind it... Now he's got a choice here. I think

he might try to drop on that red. If he could get the white in behind

it... Just there, right by his elbow...

APPLAUSE You need to work on your positional

play there, Dennis! What a start this is!

APPLAUSE A possible 139. Just come a little

bit straight on the black... He's goingb to unlucky if he's

snookered himself there, and I think he has, so he's going to need a

fluke - anywhere and he's on the yellow. Just hit it as hard as you

can and you might fluke it. Just played the brown onto it.

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE) Great start from 'On Fire' Stephen

Maguire. Can't do better than that. He had one chance, and made 112. He

takes the opening frame. Yes, an excellent start by Maguire,

and he won the next frame with a break of 80. Into frame three we go,

Perry to play, trailing by 12 points.

I'm not entirely convinced that's the right shot, to be honest with

you. He's given an easy path for Stephen Maguire to get back in the

baulk area. He could find himself somewhere down in the green. If

you're going to play it that way, at least get it tight on the ball

cushion. A tough one for Joe Perry. If he

doesn't get it in, Stephen will be right amongst them. Added pressure,

because he's 2-0 down. He knows his opponent is scoring fantastically

well. Great shot.

APPLAUSE Yep, 10 out of 10 for that one -

look where he finished - if the red had have wobbled and come away from

the pocket - that's the length of the pot there, 7'10". To roll it

like that, he cued it perfectly. Can he keep Stephen Maguire sitting in

this seat for a while? This is what top-class snooker is

all about - you have to sit there and watch your opponent have all the

table time. Now it's your turn - you've got to score. If you want to

compete in the match, you have to certainly. These balls are spread

really nicely... Very distinctive cue action, Joe

Perry. He has annex tended pause in his cue action more so than other

players, but a lovely touch in and amongst the black spot.

All the players, Dennis, have some sort of pause in the cue action.

Joe's seems to be quite pronounced. Yeah, it's a textbook cue action,

isn't it? Goes way back to the days of Joe Davis and even Frank Callan,

who coached most of the world champions of the '80s and '90s. Four

or five feathers with the cue, then pause, then through in a straight

line. Other players - and a player like Marco Fu - just points the cue.

But he comes back, pauses, and delivers the cue in a straight line.

Of course, the pause is there for one reason alone - it gives you time

to transfer your eyes to the object ball. Come back, wait, eyes on the

object ball, and off you go. He's got a lovely touch. Our good friend

Sam Torrens, a keen snooker, has made 90 breaks - Sam used to look at

the cue ball when he was delivering. He tried to look at the object ball

and got himself confused! You should, as you say, look at the

object ball before you deliver the cue. There are players in the top 16

who do it the other way around - it's amazing. It's what you've grown

up with and got used to. Generally, you'll see the eyes transfer back to

the object ball there... Meanwhile, Joe's taking these quite nicely.

Those four reds behind the pink aren't potable as they. The two reds

on the cushion aren't nice. He's got to be a bit careful here.

It's a funny shape as well, the four reds behind the pink - not really

ideal for flicking one out or playing specific cannon on one of

those. It's going to have to be hit with a bit of force and require a

little bit of luck. Usually, Dennis, there's one ball

they're going to play on purpose, but maybe if he can contact the

middle one hard, screw out of there, maybe that will be OK. Yeah, as long

as he doesn't hit the middle of those four reds and stick on that

one - that would be the worst outcome. But I think he can avoid

that. He hit that one a little bit more

pace, and he would have been OK. Still got a possible pot on. You can

see him striking down on the bottom of the cue ball. That red in the

middle of those four is the one he caught three-quarter ball. A thin

one, this, but he should be able to sneak it in.

This match probably is of the highest standard - the opening red

from Joe Perry was absolutely superb. Hasn't he taken these well

so far! Excellent cuing. Knew full well if

he missed it, there was a chance he'd be 3-0 down.

Since then, he's been at the table and he's taken them very well. Good

response. Pretty decent standards, you'd have

to say! It has to be said, this table looks to be playing

beautifully. It really does - nice and fast. Plenty of life in the

cloth. Yep. I've got a sneaking feeling we might see a maximum here

this week, Dennis. I've seen a couple of balls drop in on the top

cushion which I thought were not going to go in, and the cloth is

lovely. Best players in the world. Big prize money. We might see a

maximum here this week. You heard it here first, folks! That was JP's

prediction. Very, very entertaining.

APPLAUSE Taking the pink to give himself a

chance of a century. CROWD GROANS

No century, but Joe Perry won't be too concerned about that. He potted

a terrific opening red and he went on to make a frame-winning break of

78. He's only one behind. 2-1 to Stephen Maguire.

So, a fine break by Joe Perry, but into frame four, Stephen Maguire

roaring back, and he's on a break of 56.

If he's thinking of taking this on, good luck, cos this is horrible. Hit

the front, Joe, with this one, and it won't be going in. This is a very

tricky shot. There you go. Front draw, they don't

go in. Stephen Maguire, 56. APPLAUSE

You called it absolutely spot-on there, JP. That's what Stephen

thought about it. But that's the type of player he is - he's so

aggressive, is Stephen. Is that aggression going to cost him

this fourth frame? Not an easy run to the winning line with that red

the left side of the table. He gets a decent angle on the black

here, he can play to move that red. If he didn't move that, he'd have

the other red available. What sort of angle has he left

himself here? Definitely worth trying to bring that into play,

because if he slips past it, he'd leave the other red on.

A key shot coming up. Not the best cuing that Joe's

produced so far this evening. That's the first one that he didn't cue

well. As you said, John, a lot of pressure on this shot, and just cued

slightly across it. He knew straightaway.

Yep. I think Stephen Maguire was lucky there. I didn't like the

twisted shot he played down the cushion before. He can consider

himself quite fortunate he's coming back to the table.

He shouldn't really make any misday from here.

Well in the driving seat here. He shouldn't really make any mistakes

from here. Tell you what - they've been pretty quick frames as well -

just over 12 minutes for the opening frame. Just over 11 for the second.

Just over 15 - well, just under 15 - for the third. This one hasn't been

going 14 minutes. So the four frames are going to be over in under an

hour. Absolutely no reason why this

shouldn't be all over. Pots the brown perfect on the yellow -

something he'll have done a million times in practice. Ball colours on

the spot. Looks like, as they go for their

half-time cup of tea, Joe Perry will be 3-1 down. He'll be feeling OK,

Joe, but he knows that red he missed - with Stephen playing as well as he

is, Joe could quite easily have been all square with him.

That's good from both players - 93% and 96%. Top-class. As you would

expect in the Masters. Top 16 players in the world. Every match

could grace the final of any tournament. Very, very entertaining

from both players, but it'll be Stephen Maguire who'll be the more

happy as they go to the midsession interval. He leads three frames to

one. And after that midsession interval,

Maguire was heading for the last day, taking the next two to make it

5-1. Perry, interestingly, grabs the next two to make it 5-3. We join it

in frame nine, Maguire trailing by 21 points.

Tough shots, these... APPLAUSE

That's beautifully cued. That really is beautifully cued.

I think Joe can sense that Stephen Maguire is struggling a little bit

to get over the line. He knows if he could just play something akin to

his best, he's still got a big chance in this match.

Stephen Maguire is looking a little bit concerned. It was all flowing

beautifully for him. He had a century, an 80, a 86. All of a

sudden, Joe Perry just loosened up and he's producing the snooker that

we know he's capable of. Never won a match yet in the Masters, Joe. I

mentioned when he was 5-1 down, Dennis, he'd have to play no-mistake

snooker. That's not necessarily been the case. He has potted a few, but

his opponent's certainly helped. It's going to be a struggle to get

over the line at the moment, the way it's looking, this match. And it

shouldn't have been. He's going to have to move those

reds. Just needs this red and the black or pink - that would be enough

to leave Stephen Maguire in trouble. He'd like to make a century. He made

28 centuries last season. 15 so far this season.

This coming just at the right time for Joe Perry and his supporters.

John Higgins won his match 6-2, but the other three matches all went to

a deciding frame. Yes, you always seem to get a lot of

that at the Masters - top 16 players in the world. So little between the

relative merits. You do tend to get some really competitive games, and

this is turning into one of them. It didn't look like it about an hour

ago, but Stephen Maguire's standard has dropped a bit, and Joe Perry's

has improved. It's definitely game on.

As I say, Joe Perry wasn't playing badly in this match early on, he

just wasn't getting a shot. Then Stephen Maguire's just started to

fade a bit. Another century from Joe Perry. It's game on.

APPLAUSE He's had a yellow, a green, a brown,

three blues, seven pinks, four blacks. Is he going to get the final

black? Doesn't really matter. Excellent effort from Joe Perry.

APPLAUSE He keeps himself firmly in this

year's Masters. He's got another one back. That's three in a row! He's

now 5-4 behind. Game on! It really is a terrific fight-back

by Joe Perry. Into frame 10, will Stephen Maguire steal his place in

the last eight in this next frame? Here he is on a break of 28.

Some of the finest cuing I've seen all week, and some of the worst.

There's been shots missed by an absolute mile, and some shots that

you've raved about. It's had a bit of everything.

It's always been in the Masters, the first round to get through to the

quarterfinal has always been the toughest round to win, believe it or

not. APPLAUSE

Good cue ball. He's covered that one near the left corner pocket, I

think. Joe just looking to see if he could see enough of the cushion to

just come off the cushion and land on that red.

He's going to come off the side cushion nestled on the three reds

there... That's a bit careless! That's a bit

careless! He might even be able to cut this in! Now that is just a lack

of concentration there. Cos it was a wide target - didn't matter which

one of them he landed on. Very surprising. I mean, this is

absolutely razor-thin, this red. If Stephen Maguire takes this on, it is

very, very thin indeed. APPLAUSE

Oh, my goodness. What a pot. What a pot.

He knew he had to come twice across the table to cannon them. It

couldn't have worked out better. We go back to Joe's shot - he wouldn't

have had that little bit of good fortune if Joe had have concentrated

and just nestled on the reds. That was a terrific shot from Stephen

Maguire. He deserved a bit of good fortune there.

But to finish on pink and black - well, they don't finish any better

than that, and that might just be Joe Perry's last visit to the table.

Stephen Maguire played for the plump there, has he, Dennis? Looks like

it. Don't really know what other shot he's played, unless that one

next to the pink he can get through. It must be the plant.

He's had three or four plants in this match. Joe Perry knows that

that is the end. Well, he's 38 ahead, 75 on. It really should be

the end. He's struggled so far in the last couple of frames to win the

match, Stephen Maguire, but he doesn't really have to do anything

with the cue ball here. He's such a talented player, Joe

Perry, but this is his sixth appearance in the Masters. He lost

in the wild card round a couple of times and lost in the last 16 the

last two seasons - just can't get off the mark. It's the toughest

tournament to win of the lot, with the exception of the World

Championship. Stephen had lost the last three

Masters in the first round, but it's Stephen that's going through to the

quarterfinal. He'll meet either - I think it's Gary Robson or Vassos

Alexander, John. Neil Robinson or Neil Alan. That's a dinger of a

match. Should be a cracker. He'll be a bit disappointed here, Joe Perry

in this frame. He just didn't keep the pressure on

Stephen Maguire. Both players making centuries. The

way they set off before the midsession interval, it was

unbelievable snooker. Then things changed at the interval. Got a

little bit scrappy. Players started missing. And there's another one

that's missed, but barring lots of snookers, Stephen Maguire's in the

quarterfinal. I think he'll shake hands now that

both reds have gone in. You would think he would, because that has

just spoiled his chances, knocking both reds in.

52 in it, 35 on the table. He's looking at the scoreboard, is Joe.

He almost came over to shake hands. That's hard to get a snooker, debs!

-- Dennis! TE Just play nice and slow here -

don't do anything daft or hit the black. Joe needs five snookers at

the moment. This is quite a big target. Might go

in off the red. Nice feeling for Stephen Maguire,

the opponent needing five four-point snookers. He'll be totally relaxed

out there, Stephen Maguire. Pressure will be off.

He does concede. Both players started off like a house on fire. It

all changed after the midsession interval. It was a great effect from

Joe Perry to come back from 5-1 to 5-4 but, in the end, Stephen Maguire

takes the match, and he goes through to the quarterfinal a 6-4 victor.

I felt good at the start. Little bit nervous at the start, but the way I

went out there and dealt with it, I was quite pleased. Towards the end

there, it was a different game from from what it was in the 90 minutes

before the. It wasn't that I was under any more pressure - he starts

getting his bit between the teeth, and he played well. I definitely

didn't want it to go five each. I've been looking forward to this since

the UK. It's just great. The one-table set-up - we're not getting

that these days. We're playing with ten tables there and everybody's

getting in each other's way. It's good to be out there. You feel like

a professional snooker player for a change. I want to play there again

and play the following match, and stay here as long as I can. Raze

Well done, Stephen Maguire. Let's remind you of the draw:

More action on the way in Snooker Extra straight after this programme.

You can savour that epic match here at the Masters between Judd Trump

and Marco Fu all over again, and then Hazel is back with further live

covage from the Masters at 1.00 as we concentrate on Ding Junhui taking

on muff Murphy. That also could be a cracker. Sleep -- Shaun Murphy. That

also could be a cracker. Sleep well. Bye for now.