Classic Matches of 2013 countdown: 11th Place: Ding Junhui Vs Shaun Murphy (2013 Shanghai Masters L16)

The second day of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2013 countdown takes us back to Thursday 19th September 2013 when Ding Junhui took on Shaun Murphy in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters and produced an absolutely brilliant match, that had pretty much everything with great scoring and tension by the bag full.

So let's have a look back on what happened on this thrilling Shanghai evening:

Ding Junhui Vs Shaun Murphy

Ding Junhui potted the first red of the match after a missed long red from Murphy, and carved out a nice chance in the opening frame, but he failed to split the pack and could only make 42. Shaun then knocked in a great long red, giving him a nice chance to take the opener. That was exactly what he did as a lovely break of 86 gave Murphy a 1-0 lead. Ding fluked a red early in the second, but could only make 5 before missing the green and letting Murphy back in. Shaun had made 30 before he missed the black from its spot looking to break the reds open, and letting Ding in, the opposite of what happened in the first frame, and after a plant on 20 from Ding, the remaining 3 reds were all there for the taking, as the Chinaman made it 1-1 with a 74 clearance. After Ding left a red on failing to escape from a snooker early in the third, Shaun had another chance and got the reds open straight away. A great recovery red on 16 got him back in position, but when he ran out of position on 19, and played an average safety shot, Ding potted a fairly simple long red to get his chance to score. He had to pot a couple of good balls along the way, but otherwise he made the break look simple as a nice 67 left Murphy needing a couple of snookers which he couldn’t get, making it 2-1 to Ding Junhui. After a scrappy start to the fourth frame, a simple missed red from Ding gave Murphy an excellent chance to level the match going into the interval. A break of 62 punished Ding’s error and made it 2-2. A very classy break of 84 gave Ding Junhui the frame after the interval to make it 3-2. It was a bad miss from Ding that gave Murphy the chance to level once more, and Shaun took all of the balls very well, and built a brilliant break of 102 made it 3-3.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the seventh frame was a very scrappy one indeed, certainly to start with, with lots of reds going safe and neither player able to really get in. Shaun managed to make a good plant, but was snookered in all of the colours by the reds, and on the second attempt at the escape, he left a free ball and gave Ding Junhui a good chance to go back in front. A good recovery red to the middle, but he soon went in off on the pink to squander the opportunity. However, Shaun then failed to make a plant on some reds near the corner and soon opened the reds, but Ding missed another pink, letting The Magician back in with a chance to close the gap in the frame at least. Although, he only made 4 before he ran out of position once more. Ding then potted the next 2 reds (playing a snooker in between) but he missed the green that would have only let Murphy tie. But, as things went in this frame, Shaun missed the red and the Chinaman potted it, but failed to get on the yellow, as Murphy came back for 3 snookers. Murphy got one snooker and then potted the yellow, green and brown to leave him needing one more snooker on the blue, but he failed to get it and Ding potted the blue to finally make it 4-3. Murphy potted a simple long red early in frame eight, and then went into them from a red on 3, but couldn’t get on a colour, and was forced to play a snooker. Shaun Murphy later potted a brilliant long red to get perfectly on the black, and had a great chance to take the match all the way, and a great recovery shot on a red near the black cushion soon put him bang in amongst them, and Shaun took the rest really well to insure that the match went the full nine frames with a break of 84.

Ding was first in, in the decider with a nice long red to get perfectly on the black, and gift him a scoring chance. The home favourite managed to make 40 before he got a poor split on the reds and missed a tough double. 2 more reds and blacks later for Ding and he had a valuable 60 point lead with 7 reds left, but 4 of those on the side cushion. Ding potted the next red after Shaun missed a long one and made his lead 61 with 75 on, but with the black also relatively safe. Murphy then potted red and pink to reduce the gap to 54, but failed to get into the safe reds and had to play safe. A few pots later from Shaun, and he’d closed the gap to 39 but with only 43 on. Ding then missed a pot on the only red he needed, and went in off, but Shaun failed to get the snooker behind the yellow from the ball in hand situation, and Ding was able to go one better with his next shot, and play a superb snooker.  Murphy’s first attempt brought about some laughter from himself and the crowd as he failed miserably at his attempts on a masse shot, and a comment from Shaun that “at least nobody was watching”.  His second attempt went to the other extreme and he was whiskers away from getting out of the impossible snooker, bringing Shaun to his knees, but also meaning he could now only tie the frame. Ding soon had him snookered again, and Murphy missed again to leave him 47 behind with 43 on the table. Ding then potted the penultimate red with the pink to leave Murphy needing 5 snookers and put the game beyond any doubt, and when Ding potted the final red that was game over, ending this thrilling contest with a 5-4 win for home favourite Ding Junhui, who went on to win the event and claim another win on home soil, which was only fair having come through such a high quality encounter.

This is what Shaun Murphy had to say to me when he looked back on the match a couple of weeks ago:

My match against Ding in this year’s Shanghai masters was a really good game. It was always going to be I guess. I'd been away from home for three weeks at that point having played in the World 6 reds Championships in Thailand, an exhibition event in Hong Kong and I knew my game was in good shape. Again the match went the distance and ended with a pretty scrappy frame. The match pretty much swung on a snooker that Ding laid on me with two reds left, and still to this day I haven't managed to escape from it. I set the shot up a few times on my table where I practise at Urmston Cons Club and I'm still trying.

On the day itself, I tried to Massè around the yellow all the way down the table and land on a red near the side cushion. Unfortunately but quite funnily I miss cued and the cue ball literally travelled about 6 inches! It was hilarious at the time and still raises a smile thinking about it now. It was of course replaced and I had another go, this time playing a more conventional shot using 5 or 6 cushions, missing the red by a fraction. This left me needing snookers and from then on the writing was on the wall. It's never nice to lose, but at least that shot gave a few people a laugh at the time, including me.

 

I'd like to thank Shaun for doing that little piece for me there, on what was a truly brilliant contest between two brilliant players, that will in fact meet again in the first round of January's Masters, and we could well be talking about that match this time next year. So, who will take 10th place on my Christmas countdown? Be sure to come back tomorrow and find out.