Joe Perry’s Masters dream ended with a 6-4 loss to Stephen Maguire last night.

The Chatteris cueman showed fighting spirit as he recovered from 5-1 down to 5-4, but in the end it was Maguire who goes through to meet Neil Robertson or Mark Allen on Friday.

Maguire made a superb start with breaks of 112 and 80 to go 2-0 ahead. Perry pulled one back with a run of 78 but struggled to gain any momentum and his opponent won the next three with a top break of 56.

However it was Maguire who showed signs of nerves in the closing stages and his errors allowed Perry to claw his way back, winning two scrappy frames then making an impressive 106 to leave the score at 5-4.

And Perry had an early chance in frame ten but a couple of careless shots proved costly as Maguire stumbled over the finishing line.

Perry has now lost all six of his Masters matches but he says he could take positives from his performance.

He said: “I can take some positives because I felt good out there. The last time I lost in the Masters I never wanted to play snooker again, but since then I have turned the corner in my career.

“I doubted myself in the past but I am different now and I’ve had a good season.”