Scot will face revitalised Ebdon in Sunday's final
Stephen Maguire is through to the final of the China Open after streaking clear of in-form Stephen Lee to triumph 6-2 in their Beijing semi-final.
Maguire won four frames in a row to seal the win after his opponent had battled back from 2-0 down to level the scores. But the Scot, who edged past Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight on a respotted black in the final frame, had six breaks over 50 as he set up a meeting against former world champion Peter Ebdon. Maguire won this tournament in 2008 and started strongly here, taking the first frame with a 76 break and then edging a scrappy second as he punished Lee for not taking his chances.
Lee beat reigning champion Judd Trump in the last eight and the 37-year-old battled back to level after four frames. He won the third frame on the back of a 67 and then drew level, breaks of 47 and 39 enough to get over the line. But he simply had no answer to Maguire after the mid-session interval as the 31-year-old raced away with the match. The Scot knocked in a 51 and a 53 to restore his lead and improved from there. He rattled in breaks of 66 and 71 to take the match away from Lee before saving the best till last, a run of 91 handing him victory in emphatic fashion.
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