Shaun Murphy weathers Mark Selby fightback to reach Players Championship quarter-finals in Wolverhampton
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 21/02/2023 at 16:45 GMT
In a rematch of the 2021 World Snooker Championship final, it was Shaun Murphy who prevailed against Mark Selby to reach the quarter-finals of the 2023 Players Championship. Murphy made three breaks over 70 as he booked his place in the next round against Ryan Day. Judd Trump plays in the evening session along with Welsh Open champion Robert Milkins.
'I made far too many unforced errors' - Murphy rues mistakes in final against Milkins
Shaun Murphy continued his excellent recent form as he weathered a Mark Selby fightback to reach the quarter-finals of the Players Championship in Wolverhampton.
Murphy, who was runner-up at the Welsh Open to Robert Milkins at the weekend, made breaks of 92, 75 and 72 in a 6-3 victory.
The 2005 world champion will next face Ryan Day, who won his opener 6-2 against Chris Wakelin.
Murphy said he felt like “Neo from the Matrix” at last week’s Welsh Open as he made back-to-back breaks of 145 and 147 against Daniel Wells.
Even though he came up short in the final against Milkins, that didn’t look to be dwelling on his mind as he quickly settled into his groove against Selby.
A break of 72 saw Murphy take the opening frame of the match.
Selby got in first in the second frame but ran out of position at 32-0 ahead.
That let Murphy to the table and he moved into the lead before getting the better of a high-quality safety exchange to move 2-0 up.
Murphy continued to look in fine form. Selby left a red to the right corner following a safety and then watched from his chair as Murphy knocked in a 75 break to extend his lead.
Selby’s hopes of a comeback looked to be growing smaller as Murphy got in again in the fourth frame.
However, just as the frame looked to be won, Murphy missed a frame-ball red with the rest. Selby seized his chance with a well-taken break to cut the lead to 3-1 at the interval.
But Murphy restored his three-frame cushion with a break of 92 and then took advantage of a poor safety from Selby to race through the next frame.
However, four-time world champion Selby managed to clinch frames seven and eight with some typically dogged play after Murphy's cue action began to twitch as he attempted to close out the victory.
But Murphy was not to be denied, though - even if it did take three visits in frame nine to secure passage through to the quarter-finals.
- - -
Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement