 In the inaugural Shanghai Masters , he was defeated 2 – 5 by Ian McCulloch in the first round . He reached the final of the Pot Black , where he was defeated by Doherty . In the Grand Prix , he reached the semi @-@ finals , where he lost 5 – 6 against Ronnie O 'Sullivan , despite leading 5 – 2 . Further semi @-@ finals followed at the Northern Ireland Trophy and the UK Championship , where he was defeated on both occasions by Maguire , 5 – 6 and 5 – 9 , respectively , making it three consecutive semi @-@ final losses . Before the UK Championship , he was provisionally ranked number one . He successfully defended his Malta Cup title ( that year the tournament was not a ranking event ) with a 9 – 3 victory over Doherty in the final . In the China Open , he defeated Selby 6 – 3 in the semi @-@ final — his sixth semi @-@ final in the past seven ranking events — but lost 9 – 10 to Maguire in the final . Before the World Championship , he was again provisional number one . 
