Shaun Murphy will savour some home comforts after beating Xiao Guodong with a session to spare and reaching the last eight of the World Snooker Championship. Murphy guaranteed himself a night off on Friday with a 13-3 second-round demolition of Xiao – and then revealed he was heading home before his quarter-final gets under way on Tuesday.
“Mathematically it’s possible to win with a session to spare but you don’t think it’s going to happen,” Murphy told the BBC after a fluent potting display that produced four centuries and seven further breaks over 60. “I kept getting those little chances and I’m really pleased how I played. It doesn’t happen often because everybody’s so good. We’re going to ship out of Sheffield for a few days. Go home now.
“I’ve got my practice table at home and I can do as much as I want instead of trying to dodge in for half an hour at the Crucible. [I will] spend the next few days getting ready for what’s going to be a big game.”
Murphy will play the reigning world champion, Zhao Xintong, or Ding Junhui next as the 43-year-old attempts to reclaim the title he won in 2005 as a Crucible qualifier. “I don’t know if I’d use the word desperate [to win it] but it’s very close,” said Murphy, who celebrated victory with a fist pump to the Sheffield crowd.
“It’s been 21 years since that totally clueless 22-year-old kid walked in here and nicked the trophy from everybody. I’ve come back here every year trying my hardest to repeat that magic and I’ve not been able to. It’s not been for the lack of trying. Who knows? I’ll enjoy watching Ding and Xintong battling it out from the safety of my house and see who comes through that.”
Murphy led 6-2 overnight and Xiao won only one more frame on Friday as his game fell apart. “The Magician” maintained his spell over Xiao as breaks of 93 and 66 helped him claim the first three frames of the second session. Xiao responded with 74 to reduce the deficit, but Murphy rattled off breaks of 103, 69, 115 and 103 to reach the 10th World Championship quarter-final of his career.
The second-round battle between Zhao and Ding is level at 4-4 after the first session. The defending champion pounced on errors from Ding to win successive frames on pink and black and lead 4-3. In the final frame, the roles were reversed when Zhao missed a straightforward pot and Ding made a brilliant 62 clearance to level.
On the other table, Barry Hawkins and Mark Williams were involved in a nip-and-tuck affair of the highest quality with the opening session shared 4-4.
Hawkins opened with a superb 127 clearance but three-time world champion Williams replied with 69 to level. The Englishman won a safety battle to edge a 40-minute frame and lead 2-1, but Williams again hit back with a majestic break of 124. Williams won the seventh frame to lead for the first time at 4-3, but Hawkins restored parity with a break of 73.
In their evening session Hawkins took control, winning six of the eight frames played. He made a break of 89 to take the final frame and open up a four-frame advantage at 10-6 going into the final session on Saturday evening.
Mark Allen fought back to take a 9-7 lead over Kyren Wilson in their see-saw clash. Wilson had won the final three frames of the first session on Thursday to stop an Allen procession, and he extended that streak to lead for the first time at 6-5, helped by a 112 break – the first century of the match.
Allen had incredibly potted just 10 balls since going 5-0 up, but he stopped the rot by winning the next two frames. Wilson won a tight 14th frame to level the scores again, but Allen rolled in a break of 140 – the 699th century break of his career – and then got the better of a safety exchange to enjoy some breathing space. They will play to a finish on Saturday morning.
