Shaun Murphy hits four centuries as he crushes Ryan Day to reach Players Championship semi-finals
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Updated 23/02/2023 at 21:17 GMT
Shaun Murphy delivered a snooker masterclass in Wolverhampton on Thursday, as he brushed aside the challenge of Ryan Day to book his place in the semi-finals of the Players Championship. Four days on from his loss in the Welsh Open final, Murphy was in sensational form. Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
'I made far too many unforced errors' - Murphy rues mistakes in final against Milkins
Shaun Murphy set up a Saturday night date with one Wilson or another after blitzing Ryan Day 6-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Players Championship.
The 2005 world champion has rediscovered his best form this season after a couple of years in the wilderness.
Following a near miss in the Welsh Open at the weekend, when he lost to Robert Milkins in the final, Murphy arrived in Wolverhampton in a confident frame of mind.
After getting the better of a battle with Mark Selby in the first round, Murphy found the form that saw him make breaks of 145 and 147 in Wales last week.
Day was left in a daze as Murphy’s brilliant, assured potting and intelligent safety booked his ticket to the semi-finals where he will play either Kyren Wilson or Gary Wilson.
Murphy has been playing with an air of authority and recent months, and crunched a red into the middle of the bottom left pocket early in the opening frame.
It did not secure the frame at the first visit as he ran out of position when colliding with the brown, but got in again shortly afterwards. There was no mistake at the second time of asking, as he compiled a superb break of 104 to edge in front.
Day had every right to be concerned as Murphy strode confidently back to his chair with the applause of the audience ringing out after the century in the opening frame.
His woes were compounded when he fouled the brown when potting the blue in the second, and it proved a costly mistake as Murphy mopped up a second ton in as many frames - a 107 - to double his lead in the race to six.
The third frame was a carbon copy of the second, as Day faltered on 25 - missing a blue to the middle - and Murphy stepped in with a 105 for his third century of the match.
It was not a case of Day being welded to his chair, as chances came his way. The fourth saw him get in first, but he missed a red to bottom left and Murphy ruthlessly picked apart a break of 85. Such was the standard, Murphy’s failure to cut in the final red to set up a fourth century on the spin was met with groans of disappointment.
Murphy looked like he was hitting marbles into dustbins, such was the authority of his play.
After Day had done well to escape from a snooker, Murphy took on a long-distance red to the green pocket. It never touched the sides as he opened up a sizeable lead in the fifth frame.
Day’s evening was summed up to a large extent in the fifth, as he potted two reds in one visit when chasing the frame. That meant he had to knock in a colour or he would be left needing a snooker, and the black stayed in the jaws of the bottom left as Murphy made it five unanswered frames.
With a stack of ranking points to come off Murphy’s slate after the World Championship, big runs in tournaments are vital for his status among the top 16.
If there are nerves, he is embracing them as he never faltered against Day and wrapped up the whitewash win with a fourth century of the match - a tournament-high 133 - and the 607th of his career.
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