Maguire lifts SangSom 6-red World Championship trophy for 2014

Bangkok, September 7 -- Stephen Maguire of Scotland finally ended the English stranglehold of the SangSom 6-red World Championship when he staged a fantastic fight back to edge out Ricky Walden 8-7 in this year's final at the Montien Riverside Hotel on Saturday night (early Sunday morning).

All the previous five events had been won by England players with Walden himself lifting the trophy in 2008.

Maguire, ranked No. 13 in the world, had been staring at defeat before he took three frames in a row to cruise to the victory that earned him a big payday of 2.5 million baht. Walden took home one million baht for finishing runner-up.

Maguire, a winner of five world ranking events, had been having a tough time on the professional circuit as he had not been able to reach a single final for more than a year. It all changed in Bangkok on Saturday night.

"I am happy that I have won," said Maguire. "I have been here twice before but didn’t do very well. I had not been hoping for anything big this time as well and was only looking forward to have some good practice."

"I played better in the last three frames than I did in the entire match. I took my chances and I believe that turned the match in my favour."

"There are lots of good players on the professional circuit and it's not easy anymore. I am trying to get back into the Top Four, but it doesn’t seem to be possible this year."

It was in fact Walden, the world No. 12, who had started off in a confident mood and set the pace in the title showdown of the baht 8 million championship.

Walden opened up a 2-0 lead but only to see Maguire take two frames on the trot with the help of a 73-point run in the fourth frame to get level at 2-2.

Walden was back to work again and grabbed the next three frames to gain a massive 5-2 advantage but a fine display of potting allowed Maguire to eventually narrow the margin to 6-5.

After his opponent had captured the 12th frame, Maguire turned the heat on in the last three and stole the title from right under Walden’s nose.

Both players are now set participate in the world ranking Shanghai Open event which starts on Monday.

RESULTS