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Shaun Murphy clawed back a 36-point deficit in the deciding frame to secure a nail-biting 10-9 win over the Chinese qualifier Fan Zhengyi in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.
The pair traded blows throughout a thrilling second session and Fan moved to the verge of victory after taking the first chance in the last – but Murphy, who won the title in 2005, drew on all his years of experience to nudge home with a superb break of 50.
Earlier, Murphy had taken to social media to lambast an audience member who berated one of his shots during the pair’s opening session on Monday.
Murphy wrote on Instagram: “Just a friendly reminder that if you’re sat on the front row in the Crucible and I play a shot that may not work for a particular reason, it’s probably best not to say ‘s*** shot’ out loud. I’ve got ears.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan started with a rare Crucible misstep but still emerged with a 7-2 lead after the opening session of his first-round match against China’s He Guoqiang.
Heading out for his 34th consecutive appearance in the event, the 50-year-old accidentally headed towards the wrong table and had to be steered in the right direction by a subtle nudge from the referee, Rob Spencer.
O’Sullivan did not need to be at his best against the plainly nervous debutant, who dumped out Jack Lisowski in the last round of qualifying, but still had pundits leafing through the Crucible record books after cruising into an early 5-0 lead. His quest for a record-breaking eighth modern-era title looked unlikely to be derailed at the first stage as breaks of 72 and 97 got him off the blocks and his opening century – in the fourth frame – consolidated his advantage.
He belatedly settled in the sixth frame, seizing his chance after O’Sullivan missed a simple red, doubling a red to the middle and knocking in a long green and brown in succession to relieve some of the pressure. Suddenly playing with a little more freedom, He reeled off a break of 77 in the next to further reduce the deficit.
But He could not build on another early chance in the eighth, which O’Sullivan took with a break of 52, before completing the session with a coolly taken break of 86.
O’Sullivan will return on Wednesday afternoon, aiming to win the three frames required to seal his place in round two and a meeting with fellow “Class of 92” member and four-time winner John Higgins.
Judd Trump is more than happy to continue flying under the radar after sealing his place in the second round with a 10-5 win over Gary Wilson.
Despite entering the tournament as the world No 1, Trump has been somewhat overlooked in the buildup with more focus on O’Sullivan’s quest to win an eighth crown or Zhao Xintong’s bid to crack the Crucible ‘curse’.
Trump, who is still searching for his second world title after clinching his first in 2019, said: “I enjoy that other people are being spoken about a lot more, because all the pressure is on them. If no one is expecting me to win it’s not going to be a big shock if I don’t win. I know deep down I’m more than good enough to win it, but I enjoy being the underdog at the same time.”
Liam Pullen made four half-centuries but still trails 13th seed Chris Wakelin 5-4 after the first session of their first-round match that concludes on Wednesday. Pullen, 20, looked unfazed on his tournament debut and delivered a crucial break of 58 to win the final frame of the morning and keep himself well in contention.
