Here is WST report on day 3 at the 2024 Scottish Open, a day that saw some big names exit the tournament.

BETVICTOR SCOTTISH OPEN DAY THREE

Stephen Maguire gained revenge over World Champion Kyren Wilson with a 4-2 win at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

Maguire succumbed to a 6-0 whitewash defeat at the hands of Wilson at the recent Victorian Plumbing UK Championship. The Glaswegian was despondent after that result, but vowed to continue his work with newly acquired coach, Chris Small.

Alongside Small, 2004 UK Champion Maguire has gone back to basics and rebuilt his game from the very fundamentals of things like stance. That work appeared to bear fruit today against world number two Wilson.

Breaks of 79, 67, 71 and 128 from Maguire saw him secure this afternoon’s victory and set up a last 16 meeting with Xiao Guodong, who beat Jak Jones 4-3. After today’s win, Maguire admitted that victory this week would mean a great deal to him.

Maguire said: “I’m miles away at the moment, but if I win in Scotland it will be the biggest tournament I’ve ever won. It would be ahead of the UK Championship or the Tour Championship. This would top those, because I don’t settle here. I’m not used to people shouting come on Stephen. It would be crazy to win here.”

John Higgins failed to follow up Maguire’s win with another Scottish victory, bowing out 4-3 in a defeat to the in form Barry Hawkins. 

Englishman Hawkins reached the final of the recent Victorian Plumbing UK Championship, losing out in a pulsating clash with Judd Trump 10-8. He’ll be aiming to go one step further and take home the title this week. Next up it’s Wu Yize in the last 16. 

World number five Mark Allen progressed 4-2 after a high quality encounter with four-time ranking event winner Ryan Day.

Runs of 104, 127, 78 and 103 helped him to victory this afternoon. He now faces a blockbuster encounter with Jack Lisowski, who was a 4-0 winner against Si Jiahui.

“That was good snooker there and it needed to be against Ryan as he looked like he was playing well too. I can’t play much better than that,” said 38-year-old Allen. 

“It is about trying to play like that when there is pressure on. That is when I play my best snooker. It is just finding that balance. I’m struggling with that at the minute. Some days it is easy and some days it feels like the hardest game in the world.“

Lei Peifan prevailed 4-3 in a close encounter with 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy, while 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham beat David Lilley 4-2.  They now face each other in the last 16.

Ding Junhui was a 4-2 victor over Jackson Page to set up a last 16 clash with 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel, who beat Zhou Yuelong 4-1.

All detailed results are on snooker.org

As usual some matches are overlooked in this report, and there are some surprising omissions …

• Chris Wakelin beat Zhang Anda by 4-2. Chris is one player who has been completely transformed by his Shoot-out win and he deserves more exposure.
• Xing Zihao beat Dean Young by 4-3. Dean Young’s ranking situation looks beyond rescue, but Xing’s one isn’t and such wins may prove important at the end of the season.
• Wu Yize is briefly mentioned. He beat Ishpreet Singh Chadah by 4-2 in an excellent match that featured a break over 50 in every frame. The highlight was a 135 by Wu. Singh Chadah is currently second in the “rescue” group of four who could keep their tour card via the one year list. I hope that he can stay on tour, he is plenty good enough.
• Xiao Guodong beat Jak Jones, the Crucible runner-up, by 4-3. Frame three went to a re-spotted black that Xiao won. Maybe the match outcome eventually was decided by that one ball …
• Tom Ford who won his first ranking title, the Shoot-out, only last week-end beat Neil Robertson by 4-1. Given Tom’s recent success and Neil’s position in the rankings this is a surprising omission.
• Long Zehuang beat Joe O’Connor by 4-3. This is an important win for Long as it puts him as high as number 50 in the provisional end of rankings, and in the top 64 in the current rankings at the expense of Anthony Hamilton.
• Noppon Saengkham beat Mark Selby by 4-2 at ungodly hours … he missed the final pink whilst en route to a maximum in the last frame.