LONDON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Scotland's Stephen Maguire beat Neil Robertson of Australia 9-5 on Saturday to book his place in the semifinals of the Snooker Tour Championship.

Maguire, 39, replaced Ding Junhui in the eight-man event in Milton Keynes, as China's top player decided to pull out of the competition to avoid extensive travel from China to the U.K..

Maguire and Robertson traded blows in the opening session with the scores locked at 4-4, before the Scot dominated the evening session with four century breaks.

"I'll never play like that again," Maguire told the World Snooker Tour website. "If I can play half of that, I would take it."

The competition, which features the top eight players on the one-year ranking list, is the first ranking tournament since the snooker season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reigning world champion Judd Trump will play against John Higgins, while the other two first round matches will feature Mark Selby against Chinese hopeful Yan Bingtao, and Shaun Murphy will take on Mark Allen.

Earlier this month, the snooker season resumed with the non-ranking Championship League which was also held at Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

Since June 1, elite and professional sporting events in the U.K. have been allowed to resume behind closed doors. Enditem

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