Murphy marches on

Having produced 107 in the third frame, the 2005 world champion Murphy pieced together a knock of 139 in the closing frame of a one-sided first round match - the highest break of the tournament so far.

Murphy needs to win the Masters to join a select band of players to have lifted the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship in their respective careers.

Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, John Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Alex Higgins and Terry Griffiths are the only men to have claimed the game's unofficial 'triple crown'.

Somewhat surprisingly, Murphy has not been beyond the last eight at the invitational tournament in seven previous appearances.

He failed to pot a ball in the opening frame as Gould ran in breaks of 41 and 60 to take a 1-0 lead.

'The Pinner Potter' looked good to move two frames clear, but a missed green on a knock of 34 proved a key moment in the match.

Gould had led 46-33 approaching the final red, but a poor safety allowed Murphy the chance to clear to the pink to level.

Breaks of 107 and 59 - bolstered by a telling safety shot late in the frame - saw Murphy bound for his cup of tea at the mid-session interval in fine fettle.

That was illustrated when he knocked in a rapid break of 82 to move 4-1 clear. Murphy looked poised to repeat the dose in the sixth frame, but failed to sink a tricky red with the extended rest.

Gould ran in 50, but needed Murphy to miss a questionable attempt at a brown to claim his second frame of the evening.

Gould opted to go for a long red in the seventh frame, but he hit across the white in missing the object ball.

That miss was punished heavily by Murphy who stepped in with an 89 to move 5-2 ahead. His closing break of 139 was greeted with some fervour in the arena.

He will face Mark Selby or Stephen Lee in the last eight on Friday.