Murphy the comeback king

Murphy was 11-5 down at the start of play on Wednesday morning, meaning that two frames would have won the match for Stevens.

Murphy found the positive start he required with a run of 92 and added a second frame for 12-7, but Stevens found a half-century to move within a frame of victory and a place opposite either Mark Selby or Ali Carter in the last four.

However, the religious Murphy had other ideas. Firstly he edged a close contest before two 50-plus breaks of his own reduced the deficit to two.

It was at that point that the key moment arrived for Stevens, the chance for him to forget about his form and snatch the win. He failed to put the blue down and Murphy duly obliged and added the others to make the scoreline 12-11.

The 24th frame was also tight and could have gone either way, but it seemed that when it really mattered, Murphy found that extra bit. He took an opportunity to clear from the third-from-last red to the blue and take the match to a deciding frame.

Few people could have predicted a Stevens victory from there, and so it transpired. An early run of 44 from Rotherham cueman Murphy set him up and he returned to the table to finish off proceedings.

"I think it's the hardest I've ever played," Murphy said.

"I got up thinking I'd give it my best shot, but I never truly envisaged winning until it was 12-7."

Stevens, twice a beaten finalist, will now have to qualify for next year's tournament after dropping out of the top 16 in the world rankings.

"I had the game won at 11-5, but he came back really well and I just couldn't get over the line," said Stevens.