Sam Craigie potted a re-spotted black in the deciding frame, only for the white to go in off and hand world number one Zhao Xintong an extraordinary 6-5 victory at the International Snooker Championship in Nanjing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Englishman Craigie missed a match ball blue in the final frame and allowed his opponent to clear the remaining balls to tie the frame at 72-72 and bring the black up for a deciding re-spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both players spurned opportunities, before Craigie potted a great long-range black. He appeared to have secured a famous victory, but the white tracked towards the green pocket and dropped to give Xintong an unlikely win.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a second consecutive week of heartbreak for Craigie, who lost his Northern Ireland Open semi-final 6-5 against Kyren Wilson, having led 5-3. The prize for Xintong is a clash with Irishman Aaron Hill, who beat Daniel Wells 6-5.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Xintong said: “I am so lucky today. When the frame finished I spoke to Sam. I just said he was so unlucky and that he is playing really well now. He will be strong in the future so don’t worry about that and just keep going. I know that he will be very despondent. I am lucky today.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I thought I had lost. When he potted the black, I was standing at the camera. I saw the black straight to the pocket but I didn’t see the cue ball.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen Maguire ousted China’s current World Champion Wu Yize 6-5 in a thrilling clash to make the last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a first ever win over the reigning Crucible King for Scotland’s Maguire, who lost 5-4 in both of their previous meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nanjing has proved to be a lucrative location for 2004 UK Champion Maguire, who made the semi-finals last year. On that occasion he was beaten 9-2 by fellow Glaswegian and close friend John Higgins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having trailed 3-1 at the mid-session interval, Maguire reeled off breaks of 58, 78, 73 and 133 to take four of the next five and lead 5-4. Yize fired in a superb 110 to force a decider and had the first opportunities. Leading 50-0, Yize missed a long red and Maguire stepped up to clear brilliantly to the pink with 68 and run out the victor. He now plays Chinese legend Ding Junhui, who prevailed 6-5 against Zhang Anda.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maguire said: “You can’t beat things like that. It is what gets my butterflies going. If I didn’t clear up there, it would have killed me. When you do clear up, it is just relief. That is a good win for me. He is unbelievable and his long potting is too good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There are a lot more lows than highs. If you get a result like that with a clearance at the end just enjoy it. I don’t like giving it a fist pump but it comes out when I miss and I punch the table. I’m just that person.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Class of 92 members Mark Williams and John Higgins scored last 32 wins to set up a mouth-watering showdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams withstood an opening frame 147 break from rapid Thai cueman Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to prevail 6-3 and earn his place in the last 16. Higgins prevailed 6-2 against China’s Xu Si. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese 18-year-old Wang Xinbo produced a stunning display to dispatch 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson 6-4. He top scored with 131 and now plays Marco Fu, who beat Julien Leclercq 6-3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chang Bingyu put himself in position to make it into the top 16 and qualify automatically for the UK Championship with a 6-3 defeat of Chris Wakelin. He is provisionally in 16th position, but his Chinese compatriot Ding is among those hot on his heels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ROUND THREE RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Williams (Wal) bt Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Tha) 6-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hossein Vafaei (Egy) bt Mark Shelby (Eng) 6-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fan Zhengyi (Chn) bt Pang Junxu (Chn) 6-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuan Sijun (Chn) bt Mitchell Mann (Eng) 6-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liam Davies (Wal) bt Ricky Walden (Eng) 6-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oliver Lines (Eng) bt Ben Woollaston (Eng) 6-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wang Xinbo (Chn) bt Neil Robertson (Aus) 6-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ding Jinhui (Chn) bt Zhang Anda (Chn) 6-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marco Fu (Hkg) bt Julien Leclercq (Bel) 6-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n Si Jiahui (Chn) bt Liu Hongyu (Chn) 6-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Higgins (Sco) bt Xu Si (Chn) 6-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kyren Wilson (Eng) bt Ryan Day (Wal) 6-1<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhao Xingtong (Chn) bt Sam Craigie (Eng) 6-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Maguiore (Sco) bt Wu Yize (Chn) 6-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chang Bingyu (Chn) bt Chris Wakelin (Eng) 6-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaron Hill (Ire) bt Daniel Wells (Wal) 6-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sam Craigie potted a re-spotted black in the deciding frame, only for the white to go in off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[378],"class_list":["post-17374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-snooker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t