STEPHEN Maguire claims he fears no-one after battling his way through a high-quality last-32 encounter at the UK Snooker Championship on Tuesday afternoon.

The Glasgow cueman looked impressive, making breaks of 125, 127 and 60 to move 4-1 ahead, but was made to work hard by Mark Davis before prevailing 6-4 at York’s Barbican Centre.

At 4-1 behind, Davis made a 128 and a 77 to level proceedings but Maguire kept his cool and knocks of 55 and 84 eventually saw him over the line.

That means the 34-year-old has now reached the last 16 of the UK Championship for eight of the past nine years and claims the mental fortitude he showed to edge past Davis means he is unconcerned, no matter who he plays.

“It was some match to be involved in. I thought I was coasting at 4-1, I was dominating the match, but then from nowhere he came back,” said Maguire.

“It’s not like I made any mistakes – Mark Davis just played unbelievably well to go 4-4.

“I was just thinking ‘am I going to get another shot here?’ with the way he was walking around the table with his tail up. He looked good but I’ve made a great break at 4-4, which won it for me.

“Whoever it is I’m up against, I don’t care now. If I play my game I feel confident so I’m not too interested in who I play.

“I’ve always my own worst enemy because sometimes I beat myself up a bit too much but I’ve been quite calm this week. I’ll just go out, play my game and I fancy taking anyone if I play well.”

Top players have been falling left and right in York this week with nine of the top 16 seeds having been knocked out by yesterday afternoon.

And Maguire, who won the UK Championship back in 2004, admits he wasn’t too far from joining them when Davis was in full flow.

“You have to give him credit for the way he played. He’s pushing for the top 16, so I wouldn’t expect anything less,” said the provisional world No.15

“But the way the match was going I didn’t see his comeback coming at all. It just shows you how good everyone is because he’s played three great frames there.

“I don’t think I potted a ball or even saw a red but I managed to dig out a couple of frames to get over the line.”

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