SNOOKER: Joe Swail overcame an injured arm to battle his way through a four-and-a-half-hour marathon and beat Stephen Maguire to reach the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in Newport.
Swail had three times enjoyed a two-frame advantage - 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 - but was made to sweat as Maguire battled back to force a decisive fifth frame.
Swail scored 43 before missing a pink and then watched as Maguire cleared the remaining reds.
It looked as though the great escape was on but he then missed the yellow while clearing the colours.
Handed a second chance, Maguire missed the green and then watched as Swail potted the brown only for the cue ball to knock in the pink.
However, the 39-year-old snookered Maguire on the brown and, after Maguire accidentally potted blue, he swept to a 5-4 victory.
“It was very exciting for the spectators and the audience but it was a very twitchy match. I had so many chances to get over the line and just couldn’t do it,” he told worldsnooker.com.
“The pain was unbelievable. I was a little afraid to really get into the ball and it felt difficult to grip the cue. But I should be fine for tomorrow.”
Swail will meet either Neil Robertson or Marco Fu, who are in action tonight, in the last four.
In the other quarter-final in the early session, Ali Carter showed some excellent form to dispatch Shaun Murphy 5-2.
Although Murphy took the first frame, Carter swept the next four in superb fashion.
Carter looked like killing the match in the sixth frame, but made a mistake on 56 to keep Murphy alive.
However, there was to be no repeat in the next frame as Carter earned a semi-final place against either Mark Selby or Anthony Hamilton.
