STEPHEN Maguire will put adoration aside as he bids to beat his boyhood idol Stephen Hendry at the Betfred.com World Championship.
Glaswegian Maguire and seven-time world champion Hendry lock horns today in what promises to be an explosive quarter-final match in Sheffield but Maguire won't become starstruck when he faces up to his compatriot with a Crucible semi-final place up for grabs.
"It will be quite special to play Stephen at the Crucible, having not played him here before," said Maguire. "I grew up watching Stephen win all the titles and it will be great to play him. He was my idol. I was lucky enough to practise with him when I was younger and I probably tried to base my game on him."
Maguire turned on the style to dump out Englishman Joe Perry 13-7 in the last-16 stage having beaten Belgian Luca Brecel in the first round and the former Crucible semi-finalist is growing in confidence that he can end Hendry's fairytale run, having upset defending champion John Higgins and pocketed a maximum 147 break so far.
The Scots will battle it out over the best-of-25 frames, with two sessions tomorrow and a scheduled conclusion on Wednesday afternoon.
"I certainly believe I have a chance," added Maguire. "If everything clicks, it will take some very good snooker to stop me. But getting it to click is the hard part."
Win or lose, there is now a guaranteed Scottish semi-finalist, continuing the country's dominance of the game over the last decade.
In the past eight years alone their have been six Scottish finalists with Higgins having won three of those titles and Graeme Dott having won one and competed in two other finals.
"It's guaranteed one of us in the semis now, so a couple more matches and maybe one of us will pick up the trophy," said Maguire. "I would be devastated now if I were to lose, there are only three more guys to beat to win the title.
"Given what has happened over the last 14 months, I certainly don't want to lose the final if I get there, I would hate that. If I am fortunate enough to get there, I will refuse to lose."
Meanwhile, Ronnie O'Sullivan powered to within a whisker of securing his quarter-final berth by establishing an 11-5 lead over Mark Williams. The "Rocket" resumed 5-3 up on the Welshman but wasted no time in producing his vintage best as he cruised into an eight-frame lead, which leaves him needing just two frames to progress.
Williams spent most of the afternoon in his seat as O'Sullivan reeled off six frames on the spin. However, he at least spared himself the ignominy of losing with a session to spare by winning one frame of the penultimate session.
Judd Trump, last year's beaten finalist, is closing in on a last-eight place having fought back from a 5-3 overnight deficit to establish a 9-7 lead over Ali Carter.
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