Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Anthony Hamilton (Eng)

Last year’s World Championship may have ultimately had John Higgins as its headline act with him claiming his second world title, but it also marked the rebirth in the career of fellow Scot, Stephen Maguire.

Maguire narrowly missed out in the semi-finals to his compatriot twelve months ago but it triggered an upturn in fortunes which suggests Maguire could go one round further this time around.

Maguire shot to prominence in the 2004/05 season when he won two ranking tournaments, including the prestigious UK Championship.

But as has happened with other players in the past, just at the point Maguire looked set to reach the very top of the game, his form took a sharp and unexpected nosedive.

Maguire even came into this tournament last year with the outside possibility that he could drop out of the top 16. An extended run in the tournament this year and he could even end the season as world number one.

This turnaround has been brought about by Maguire winning two further ranking events this season, the Northern Ireland Trophy in November and the China Open last month.

The latter success was achieved with a victory against Shaun Murphy in the final, a player who Maguire also defeated in the UK Championship semi-final earlier in the campaign and who lurks in the same half of the draw here.

Maguire had a bad day at the office against O’ Sullivan in the UK Championship final but it is a sign of his temperament that he defeated the same player in the first round of the Masters just three weeks later.

He is cueing smoothly again and is showing the assurance amongst the balls that he showed when he first burst on the scene. That makes him a real livewire contender for the trophy.

His opponent Anthony Hamilton was once ranked in the top 16 and has reached the quarter-finals at the Crucible on four occasions, including last year.

But Hamilton’s provisional ranking is down to 34 and so it will take a similar run in the competition this time to save Hamilton from the prospect of playing two qualifying matches if he wants to come back next year.

The man from Nottingham will not make life easy for Maguire, but given the season that Maguire has had, you cannot imagine he will end the season with a whimper and I fully expect Maguire to cruise through to the second round and set up a potentially mouth watering match against Robertson. Prediction: Maguire 10-3 Hamilton