So let's have a look back at this incredibly cold evening in January:
Shaun Murphy Vs John Higgins
The match started well for Shaun Murphy after John Higgins
played a poor shot trying to run into the pack and letting Murphy in. After a
brilliant split off of the pack on 25, Murphy carved himself out a great chance
to win the opening frame. However, Shaun broke down on 33 after failing to get
position on a red. Both players then missed shots at a red, as the safety play
continued. Then John Higgins played a poor shot trying to get passed the brown
to a red, but clipping the brown instead.
Then a further 85 from Murphy gave him the frame and a 1-0 lead. After a
tough safety went wrong for Murphy in the second, Higgins got in with a nice
long red and after John potted a tricky red on 28, he managed to build a nice
frame winning opportunity. Although, he missed a tricky cut on the yellow on 53
and gave Shaun a chance. When Murphy had a horrible kick on 21 though, causing
him to miss the blue, then a poor safety from Shaun a couple of shots after
gave Higgins the chance he needed to level, and he added 49 to make sure that
he did so and make it 1-1. Poor missed reds from both players in the third,
first from Murphy and then Higgins gave Murphy the first good chance to make a
big contribution. Murphy had a bit of poor luck going into the pack, but held a
nice 33 point lead, before he managed to get in again, but a bad positional
shot meant sure that he only made 3. Shaun had a 41 point lead, but that soon
started to go when Higgins potted a brilliant long red and got himself in. He
closed the gap to 14 before missing a tough red on the bottom cushion, which
Murphy then potted but failed to get on a colour playing safe with a 15 point
lead and just the colours left. Murphy then potted the yellow, and later the
green, before playing a poor safety on the brown which Higgins then potted, and
cleared the remaining colours to lead 2-1. The Magician then missed a long red
early in the fourth which let Higgins in with a good chance, but he could only
make 28 before missing a black by the red, Murphy then made 29 before he went
in off on the blue, sending the frame into a tactical battle once more. Murphy lost the tactical battle after going
in off, and Higgins had the chance to make it 3-1. However, Higgins missed the
yellow but he had a 23 point lead going down to the colours, and he later
potted a good long yellow and cleared up to and including the pink to make it
3-1 at the interval.
After the break, Higgins had the first chance after potting
a great long red, and a few brilliant recovery shots gave him a good
opportunity to lead 4-1. It was a break of 69 that left Murphy needing snookers
with 5 reds left, before a brilliant pot on the last red gave Higgins the frame
and the 4-1 lead. Murphy needed a big improvement if he was to win from here.
An excellent long pot started things off for Murphy in frame six, and gave him
a nice early chance. Murphy potted a nice black to recover things on 27 and a
plant on 34 put him right back in great position, looking like making it 2-4.
The break continued and 70 was enough to put him back to 2 frames behind John
Higgins. When Higgins missed a plant early on in frame seven he gifted an early
chance to Murphy, to close the gap to within 1 frame. But, Murphy chipped the
black off of the table on 40, giving Higgins a chance to get back into the
frame, but John soon missed the penultimate red, before Shaun potted it, only
to go in off in the middle pocket. Higgins soon potted the last red and had a
great chance to make it 5-2. John played a poor shot on the green though, and
was whiskers away from a double on the brown but just couldn’t get it. This let
Murphy back in, and he potted the brown, blue and pink to make it 3-4 and only
trail John by 1 frame. Shaun got in first in frame eight as well, and he made
it count as a well-made break of 77 squared the match at 4-4. An excellent long
red from Shaun Murphy gave an early chance in frame nine, and a brilliant black
to the middle on 17 showed the all-out attack mode that Murphy had now gone
into. However, he missed a blue to the yellow pocket on 25 and let Higgins in,
and after he got a great split of the reds from the pink, he had an excellent
opportunity to take full advantage and move a frame from victory at 5-4.
Higgins couldn’t do it in one visit, but after fluking a snooker he got a
second chance to get the red he needed to go 5-4 in front. A missed long red
from John cost him early in the tenth frame, letting Murphy in, but he could
only make 8 from it. Another terrific long red from Shaun landed him on the
black, he had a terrific chance to force a decider. However, he ran out of
position once more letting Higgins back in again, but he could only make 5
before having to play safe himself. John Higgins then potted a great red to the
middle and gave himself a chance to win the match, but he missed a simple red
trying to bring a red from the cushion and all the balls were there for Shaun
to force a decider, and after the scoreboard temporarily froze, Murphy potted
up to and including the pink to make it 5-5.
After Shaun missed a relatively
tough red early in the decider, John potted a fairly tough one himself and gave
himself the first good chance. John Higgins played a great split from the blue
on 45, but a poor positional shot from the next red left John a tougher blue
from the side cushion which he missed to give Murphy his chance, Murphy left
himself a tough blue almost immediately to the green pocket, which he potted
leaving the Scot looking up to the heavens and Murphy with a golden opportunity
to win, and he made a brilliant 67 to win the match 6-5 pointing to a
particular member of the crowd, and giving them the thumbs up in celebration of
a very memorable win.
This was what Shaun Murphy had to say about the match, when I asked him about it a few weeks ago:
This was always going to be a tough game. Any match against
John is always a tough game and he and I have had quite a few good games in
recent years. This game at last year’s Masters was no different. We had a
really good battle, finishing with a final frame decider. I think John got in
first, and had a good lead until I was able to mount a comeback and made a nice
break in the end to nick the frame and the match. One of my best mates, James,
was sat in the crowd and as I won I spotted him going crazy so I had to give
him a wave.
What a brilliant match it was as well, with plenty of tension, and going to a very exciting decider that had me on the edge of my seat, and what another brilliant comeback that was as well from Shaun Murphy who went on to lose to Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. Another brilliant present on Christmas day, and Boxing day will see another titanic tussle, but who will take 7th on my Christmas countdown? You'll have to come back tomorrow and find out.
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