Ananova:

Malta's Tony Drago brought a capacity crowd to its feet at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso by reaching the quarter-finals of his home event with a 5-2 victory over Masters champion Paul Hunter.

Drago has struggled in his own backyard in recent years but he took advantage of Hunter's numerous errors to reach his first ranking tournament quarter-final since featuring in the last eight of the 1998 Irish Open.

"It's about time I gave the crowd something to be happy about," said a jubilant Drago after being cheered from the arena.

"For the last few years I've really felt the pressure here but these days I can accept that it's part of the job.

"This is a great place to play and I'd have problems if I couldn't get up for it." Drago won a tight opening frame and added the second after Hunter had gone in-off the pink.

Hunter's 82 helped him reduce his arrears to 2-1 but the world number eight went seriously off the boil as the match continued, eventually missing an easy red to let Drago in to seal the match in the seventh frame.

Drago spent five years as part of the top 16 in the 1990s but has struggled for the last few seasons.

He has become more consistent of late, though, and began the event 18th in the provisional rankings, a position he is keen to improve on.

"I'm not playing as well as I know I can but I keep winning and if I can win the title playing like this I'll be very happy," Drago said.

"If you had offered me a quarter-final place with all the ranking points that come with it a couple of years ago I would have taken it but now I'm there I want more."

Hunter, who has never got past the quarter-finals of a tournament outside the UK, produced a remarkable comeback to land his third Masters title when he recovered from 7-2 down to edge Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-9 at Wembley last month.

But he failed to come close to reproducing that form as his overseas hoodoo continued.

"I missed too many easy balls," Hunter admitted. "I haven't played that badly for two or three years.

"The crowd didn't bother me - it was like playing Jimmy White at Wembley. But I'm disappointed with the way I played."

	Related stories: Maguire takes title after taming Whirlwind 21:14 Saturday 6th March 2004 Maguire on course for European title 17:40 Saturday 6th March 2004 More related stories

	Check for more on: European Snooker Open Snooker