Murphy speeded up the game in order to go toe-to-toe with Maguire
In the first round of the World Championships, Shaun Murphy won his first victory since 2021 with a 10-5 victory over Lu Haotian, and he is excited to have the opportunity to restart his rivalry with Maguire for more than 30 years.
Few players prefer the Sheffield stage than 2005 world champion Murphy, who suffered a heavy blow in the first round of defeats to Harry Maguire and Si Jiahui in 2022 and 2023 respectively. As a result, the world No. 8 came out of relief in a tough match with China's Lu Haotian and a round-of-16 clash against Harry Maguire starting Friday.
The 41-year-old laughs: "I've known Maguire since I was 10 years old, I'm England's number one, he's Scotland's number one. We've been fighting against each other since we were kids, and I'm sure this time won't be any different. ”
Murphy won the Champions League at the start of the season before losing his energy and has yet to reach the last eight of another ranking competition. But the four-time World Championship finalist was often buoyed by the atmosphere in Crucible and showed his best against Lu Haotian, hitting a 100 shot and a 7 50+.
He contributed 53, 71, 90 and 111 points in a single stroke to take a 6-3 lead in the first period. In the second stage today, he won the first game, and in the second game, he scored 60 points in a single stroke to extend the lead to 8-3. In the 12th game, he lost the last yellow ball when he led 59-36, allowing Lu Haotian to fight back and pull back a game. Murphy added another 55 points to take a 9-4 lead before halftime.
Lu Haotian scored 117 points in the 14th game to save match point, and he also became the 82nd player in his career to break 100 in Crucible. But Murphy, who was in Crucible's 22nd appearance, returned with an 81 in the next game to end the match.
Murphy added: "It's hard to come back and try to keep the faith, especially after a terrible season. It's like talking about a love that keeps hurting you. After losing twice in a row in the first round of the World Championships, I'm happy to win one. At 3-3 I felt like I was the better player, but the scoreboard showed we were tied. So I'm happy to be 6-3 up and I played well in today's game. ”
"People ignore Maguire, they forget how good he is, maybe because he didn't win here or at the Masters, and he won the British Championship a long time ago. The Rockets predicted many years ago that he would dominate the game. It hasn't happened yet, but in his days, he can knock anyone to the ground, and he can win any fight. I just hope today isn't his day. We are very different players, but that's what makes snooker so interesting. Our head-to-head record is 14 to 14, so it's a close relationship. I think it's going to be a pretty easy thing for neutrals. ”
At the next table, 2015 champion Spingham scored 117 and 76 points in a single stroke to lead Gary Wilson 6-3, and then scored 98 points and 53 points in the evening game and hit 4 whips in a row. (Welcome to click to pay attention to moisturizing AB, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)