Was Darth Maul deliberately leading Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan into that shaft reactor pit room?

I've noticed that in the duel between the two Jedi vs Maul, Maul at first never seems to advance forward to attack instead defending most of the time by walking backwards until he reaches the reactor room. There he suddenly looks very aggressive and unrelenting in his attacks and kills Qui-Gon quickly and almost does the same for Obi-Wan.

Was Darth Maul's plan to separate them, via the shield, while he picked them off one at time?