Martin Gould thrashes Stephen Maguire to complete Last 16 line-up at the World Snooker Championship

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Martin Gould sends home Stephen Maguire

Martin Gould stormed into the Second Round of the 2020 World Snooker Championship with a 10-3 rout of Stephen Maguire at The Crucible on Wednesday.

Gould, the former world number 11, had been in danger of dropping off the tour prior to the qualifiers, but continued his remarkable resurgence with a crushing win over the reigning Tour Champion.

Gould had opened up a commanding 7-2 lead following a rampant first session which had seen him produce four century breaks.

The former German Masters winner, who had only made three centuries all season prior to his trip to Sheffield, took the first two frames of the second session to continue the crusade.

With the pressure off, Maguire forged a golden opportunity to make a maximum in frame 12 but saw his effort end on 96 after losing position on a red.

That proved the Scot’s final meaningful contribution to the match as Gould rounded off an emphatic win with a break of 51.

“I knew there was something ready to come out, it was just a matter of getting out there and doing it,” Gould told BBC Sport.

“The last couple of years I’ve just had personal issues, nothing to do with social media or anything that’s been posted about me.

“I’ve just had my own issues, fighting myself more than anything.

“I’ve always put in the hard work and effort but never had the opportunity to get the rewards.

“When I said “lock-down saved me” it wasn’t from anything drastic, I meant that it saved me from dropping off the tour and retiring.

“If the World Championship had been in April, I definitely wouldn’t have got through.”

Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins also booked his place in the Last 16 with a comprehensive 10-2 victory over Swiss debutant Alexander Ursenbacher.

Hawkins, the 2013 runner-up, led 7-2 overnight and quickly reeled off three consecutive frames with breaks of 84 and 53 en route to sealing the deal.

He will now face 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson later in the week.

The opening tie of Round Two began with Kurt Maflin establishing a 5-3 lead over four-time World Champion John Higgins.

Maflin, who knocked out 2019 semi-finalist David Gilbert in Round One, continued his impressive run of form to win five of the last six frames of the session.

Higgins made a 53 break to clinch the opener before overturning a 55-point deficit with a 69 clearance to double his lead.

Maflin responded with a break of 79 to get off the mark before going on to win the next three frames to take command at 4-2.

Higgins stopped the rot with a superb break of 101 but only for the Norwegian to hit back immediately with an 81 break to restore a two-frame cushion.

Mark Williams also holds a two-frame lead overnight after moving 5-3 up on fellow former World Champion Stuart Bingham.

Bingham led 2-1 before missing the final black in frame four, allowing Williams to force a re-spot.

That proved to be a pivotal moment as Williams eventually potted the re-spotted black to level up, before firing in consecutive breaks of 97 and 90 to lead 5-2.

Bingham, though, dug deep to produce a break of 57 in frame eight to set up an intriguing second session on Thursday.

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