So, let's take a final look back on the 2013 year of snooker, and these 2 magnificent days at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield:
Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy was in first in the opening frame of this World Championship Quarter-final, with a brilliant long red to stop the cue ball perfectly for the black, but he only made 16 from the opportunity, missing one of the easiest reds you will ever see missed. This gave Judd Trump an early chance, and once he had the reds open it turned into a golden opportunity but he missed an easy red himself after a horrible kick. The frame started to go scrappy after the next safety battle, but another cracking long pot gave Shaun the next chance but he could only make 9 from it before failing to get on the next colour. After potting the next 2 reds in separate breaks Murphy had a 5 point lead with 2 reds left. After a poor escape from a snooker from Judd, and some brilliant safety from both players, Murphy had the next chance but he missed an easy pink and left the last red on for Judd, and he was 9 points in front when he missed the green. Shaun potted the green, but missed a tough brown and left it on for Judd who potted the brown, blue and pink to win a lengthy opener and lead 1-0. Shaun knocked in another good red to give him the first chance of the second frame, but he could only make 21 before losing the cue ball having gone into the reds from another red. Judd had the next chance before missing another easy red, and with the reds open for Murphy it was a golden chance for him to level. That was exactly what he did with a better break of 68 making it 1-1. Another easy miss from Judd in the third frame showed that he was struggling, and Shaun Murphy had another good opportunity to score. He’d made 28 this time before falling out of position and playing safe. A very poor safety from Judd, left Shaun another opening, with the balls nicely spread for him to move ahead. He did exactly that with another good break of 61 to go 2-1 up. Judd got in first in the fourth frame with a nice long red, but he went straight into the pack getting a brilliant split only to see a red go in. This gave Shaun another golden chance with all of the balls there for him to double his lead. He was really flowing nicely and a brilliant break of 82 put him into a 3-1 lead at the first mid-session interval.
Shaun Murphy had the first chance after the break with a
long red to get in, but with reds not too nicely positioned there was work for
him to do. Shaun had made it to 39 when he ran out of position slightly and
went in-off on a difficult rest shot. A good long pot from Shaun got him back
in but he missed a pink on the stretch. That left Judd in but he couldn’t take
advantage, playing a bad shot to not get on a colour from the easy opening red.
Judd had the next opening with an easy shot to the middle, and he made 34
before missing a double/treble on the green trailing by 2 points. Shaun missed
a long green and left it on for Judd but also knocking the blue and pink safe.
Judd potted the green and brown, before playing a poor safety on the blue, which
Murphy then missed and left safe with Trump leading by 5 points. Judd then
potted a good long blue, leaving him a tricky pink to the middle for the frame.
He missed it and left it over the pocket for Murphy to try and steal the frame,
and Murphy then had a tricky black along the rail to go three frames clear, and
pot it he did to make it 4-1. A missed longish cut from Trump wouldn’t help his
confidence, especially as he left Murphy amongst the reds with another scoring
opportunity. A fantastic black along the rail from the jaws of the pocket from
Murphy took his break onto 22 and made it into a golden opening for the 2005
World Champion to surge ahead. A cannon into the reds went wrong for Shaun
shortly after though and he had to play safe on 28. Shaun had the next chance
as well after a missed long red from Judd Trump once more, and with all the
reds there this time it was a massive chance for Murphy to go 4 frames in
front. A good 50 from Shaun put him 5-1 up, and meant that he would lead going
into the second session, with 2 frames left to play in this one. Shaun had the
first chance again in frame seven after Judd missed another long red by some
distance. A terrible contact on what was already a tricky black ruined the
break though on 33. Judd got in with a nice long red but he hit the brown going
in and out of baulk from the pink and he missed another long red to leave
Murphy in again. He could only make 9 though as he didn’t get a favourable
split of the reds, but Judd was really struggling now and another miss gave
Shaun yet another golden chance to win the frame, but he missed an easy pink to
give Judd a decent chance of his own to try and claw back the frame from 43
points behind. Judd reduced the deficit to 25 before failing to nudge out a
difficult red, but his safety was poor as he left the red he played safe on
over the corner for Shaun. Unusually though Shaun turned down a pot on the blue
to put the green safe and snooker Judd on the last red. Judd got out of the
snooker and Murphy made a mess of and left the red over the middle. A good
break of 33 stole the frame from Murphy’s grasp, in a frame that could have
huge importance later, pulling the score back to 2-5. A really poor pot attempt
from Judd left Murphy with an easy starter, and showed how much Trump was
struggling in the session and how much Shaun needed to capitalise. He only made
3 though as he missed a fairly simple mid-range red which gave Judd an opening
to try and finish the session on a really positive note. Trump only made 19 though
missing a tough red to the green pocket. Shaun knocked in a cracking long red
to give him the next chance after the safety battle. A good split of the
remaining reds in the bunch made into a must take chance for Murphy to win the
final frame of the first session. A break of 76 was enough for Shaun to do it
and he led after the first session 6-2.
The second session started with Judd knocking in a good red
into the middle, but he only made 6 before missing a tough black to the corner.
A good long pot from Murphy gave him his chance of the middle session in this
match, and once he played a nice cannon into the reds from the black that Trump
left over the corner, making it a magnificent chance to keep the pressure on
Judd. A break of 91 kept Judd under it and put Murphy 5 frames in front at 7-2.
Judd had the first chance of the next frame with a good long pot to try and
help him get going after a really poor first session. Judd could only make 7
before snookering himself on all the colours after going into reds from a red.
Judd fluked a snooker though and Murphy left a red on trying to get out of it
and with all the reds there, this was Trump’s chance to show everyone what he
was made of. He did just that with a break of 93, his highest of the match so
far to pull the score back to 3-7. Murphy knocked in a superb long red to give
him the first chance of the eleventh frame, but he ran out of position having
potted a tricky black on 16. Another “Shaun Murphy special” got him back in
after a brilliant safety battle, but he could only make 6 after a careless
positional shot. Murphy missed a cut into the middle after the next safety
battle gave Trump a good chance to make a frame winning contribution. A
careless cannon left Trump a thin cut on a red though and Trump went in-off
from it and only made 14. This gave Shaun another golden chance to restore his
5 frame advantage in this match. He missed a tricky red for frame ball though,
but Judd could only tie and he played a careless safety to leave Shaun the red
he needed to secure the frame, and Murphy did enough from it to go 8-3 in
front. Needing just 5 of the remaining 14 frames to go into the semi-finals.
Judd Trump had the first chance in the last frame before the second mid-session
interval, after Shaun Murphy was a whisker away from making a great pot to the
green pocket, and he soon went into the reds from another red that was over the
corner and the former UK Champion soon had an excellent chance to win the frame
and get back into the match. After making a very tough cut back black, Trump’s
break ended on 20 as he missed a simpler red. Murphy missed a mid-range red to
punish Judd though, and the “Ace in the pack” was back at the table with all of
the reds perfectly placed for him to take the frame. The break ended when Trump
missed a trickier red with his opposite hand, but Murphy couldn’t capitalise
potting the red but missing a blue to the corner, leaving Trump the red he
needed for the frame and he did enough to get back into it at 4-8.
Judd had an early chance in frame thirteen after potting a
good red to the yellow pocket following a missed long red from The Magician.
Judd soon went into the reds and made it into a cracking chance to claw another
frame back. He’d got to 44 before he played a poor positional shot and failed
to get on his next red. Shaun was starting to miss some long reds though, and
one of these cost him as it gave Trump another chance to win the frame. He only
made 11 though as he missed a simple red to the middle. Judd then knocked in a
brilliant long red to give him his third good chance of the frame, and he took
it this time as an additional 36 made it 5-8. Judd was on the charge now, and
he had the first opportunity of the next frame as well after a good long pot,
and he potted a good red to the middle to keep the break going before splitting
the reds brilliantly from the black and putting him in a great position to
shave another frame off of Shaun Murphy’s lead. He soon found his form an
played the rest of the break well to pull the score back to 6-8 with the first
century of the quarter-final, a 118. Shaun Murphy knocked in a cracking long
red to get going in frame fifteen and he soon looked more focused, but a poor
split of the reds on 36 ended his early break. Judd had the next chance after
Murphy missed a tough red, making a break of 29 before running out of position.
After some failed attempts to get out of a snooker from Shaun, he eventually
left Judd another chance with the frame there for the taking. Judd had a 28
point lead before he missed a tough cut on a red, leaving it over the hole only
for Shaun Murphy to somehow miss it and leave Judd who did enough to leave
Murphy needing 2 snookers which he couldn’t get so Trump closed the gap to a
single frame at 7-8 with 1 frame left of the second session. Shaun had the
first chance of the sixteenth frame after a Judd missed an attempt at a long
pot, but he only made 8 before missing the pink trying to bring the black into
play, giving Trump a chance to build a lead. Judd made 24 before running out of
position as the final frame of the session showed its importance, with things
getting tense. A tough missed red from Shaun under the circumstances, left Judd
another chance to square the match which was what he did with a break of 30
completing Trump’s comeback making it 8-8.
The final session started off with Shaun Murphy going in-off
attempting a long pot, which left Judd Trump with the first real chance of what
was now effectively a best-of-9 match. He made 30 before opening the reds well,
but he didn’t get on one and had to play safe. Judd took control of the frame
with some good tactical play, and it soon gave him another good opportunity to
lead for the first time since winning the opener. He had to play safe soon
after but had valuable 50 point lead with 5 reds left and the yellow, brown,
blue and black all fairly safe. Shaun potted the next red but couldn’t get on a
colour, but he did open the brown up with his safety. Judd had the next chance
with a beautifully timed long red and an additional 26 put him 9-8 ahead.
Another great long red got Trump in first in the eighteenth frame but he missed
the black when opening the reds straight after, and a great long red to the
green pocket gave Shaun a chance to punish Judd’s error. Punish Judd is exactly
what he did squaring the match with a magnificent break of 128, his first
century of the match. Judd made a good red to the middle pocket after a safety
error from Shaun, gave Trump a good scoring opportunity early in the
nineteenth. Once he took the break to 43 with a good separation of the reds you
expected him to win the frame, but a bad miss on 59 handed a golden chance for
Shaun Murphy to steal with all of the balls there for the 2005 champion. A
brilliant break of 70 from Murphy stole the frame from under Judd’s nose to go
10-9 ahead. Judd had the first chance of the twentieth frame, after Murphy left
a red on down the rail escaping from a snooker, and with the reds nicely spread
already it was a chance that Trump had to take after how he lost the previous
frame. A good break of 78 helped him take advantage and square the match at
10-10 at the last mid-session interval.
A good long pot got Shaun Murphy in first after the break, a
fantastic split of the reds from a red took him to 17 and gave him a great
frame winning chance. A kick on 62 ruined his position and left him a tougher
red to the middle which he missed to leave Trump in with a chance to steal the
frame. A good long red took him to 21, but he missed the black off of the spot
to abruptly end the break. Shaun missed a red along the rail though, which
would have effectively won him the frame. Trump potted the next red but missed
a thin cut on the black, leaving Murphy with a 40 point lead with 43 on the
table. A careless shot trying to get out of a snooker from Shaun gave away 7
points, and left the cue ball in behind the black, with Judd putting him back
into play from there. Shaun’s escape left the penultimate red on for Judd but
he couldn’t get on the safe last red with Shaun leading by 25 with 35 on. Judd potted the last red as well, and then
potted the brown to get nicely on the yellow on the top cushion but he couldn’t
bring the green out and had to play safe. Shaun stuck the green over the middle
from a snooker and Judd made a 25 clearance to go 11-10 in front. A good long
pot gave Murphy the first chance but he missed a thin cut on the brown going
into the reds and left Judd with a good early chance to win the frame. He got
to 39 when he missed an easy black off of the spot, which gave Murphy another
chance but with the black and pink safe it wasn’t yet a clear opening. He
missed a mid-range red on 6 though squandered any kind of opportunity he had,
but Trump then missed a red to the middle and went in-off. Shaun soon had
another chance, but it wasn’t clear cut. He managed to close the gap to 10
points with 3 reds left, with the frame starting to go scrappy. Shaun soon had
another chance though potting the last 2 reds with blacks to go into a 10 point
lead of his own with 1 red remaining. Judd potted the last red with the blue,
before potting yellow, green, brown and blue to go 10 points ahead but failing
to get the pink from the side cushion. Judd then had a horrible miss-cue but it
didn’t cost him any more than the 6 foul points. Shaun played a loose safety
leaving the pink near the pocket but Judd missed it and left a very thin cut on
it for Shaun which he just about made to make it a black ball frame. Both
players then missed long shots on the black but Judd eventually stuck it up and
Shaun potted it to make it 11-11, and Murphy left the arena giving a fist pump
to the crowd. Shaun missed a long red early in frame twenty-three, and that
left Trump in with what soon became a great opening as he split the reds
immediately from the blue. He was quickly in around the black, and he kept his
composure with an excellent run of 90 to take a 12-11 lead and go within 1
frame of the semi-finals.
Judd had the first chance of the twenty-fourth frame but he
couldn’t take advantage over-screwing his position leaving him another long red
on 3, which he missed and left for Shaun Murphy. Murphy needed to take
advantage of this if he was going to force a decider, and a good recovery red
to the middle kept the break going, and once he’d opened the reds it was a
golden opportunity for him to take advantage. Force a decider was exactly what
he did with a break of 88 from Shaun Murphy to respond brilliantly. The decider
started with Shaun Murphy knocking in a great long red but he couldn’t get nicely
on a colour and had to play safe. Shaun Murphy made the first mistake in the safety battle, giving Trump the first
proper chance of the decider, but he could only make 12 before having to play
safe. He played a poor safety though, leaving a red near the corner which Shaun
knocked in, but couldn’t get nicely on a colour playing safe again. Murphy
potted the next 3 reds but couldn’t get on colours nicely from any as the
decider went scrappy. Both players were playing some terrific safety shots, as
both players were putting everything they had into it, in such a tense decider.
Shaun made the next mistake after a cracking snooker from Judd, which gave
Trump the next chance, but with the reds mostly near cushions it wasn’t a great
chance and needed lots of work. He made 21 to give him a 40 point lead which
was huge with the remaining 5 reds all near cushions. Shaun then knocked in another
cracking long pot and he potted the pink with it but was unable to get on
another closing the gap to 37, knocking the brown in from his safety shot.
Shaun potted the next red in style as well making 16 to close to 21 points
behind Judd with 2 reds left on the table. Another unlucky escape from Shaun
left the penultimate red to the middle for Judd which he potted with the pink
to go 24 ahead with 35 on. Judd potted the last red and snookered Shaun on the yellow
to lead by 25 with 27 left. After getting Shaun got out of the third snooker on
the yellow, he left it for Judd who played it well to leave Murphy needing a
snooker to win, but Shaun tried to pot the green and left it for Judd too, who
then potted the brown to seal the 13-12 win and go through to the semi-finals.
Judd gave a fist pump to the crowd in celebration, and Murphy as always was a
gentleman congratulating Trump and applauding the crowd for their support. It
was one of those matches where no-one deserved to lose and was certainly the best
match of the 2013 World Championship by a mile.
This is what Shaun Murphy had to say about this unbelievable
contest:
I always knew that this was going to be a tough game against
Judd. His general standard of scoring and potting being right up there with the
best in the world recently, I knew nothing but my best would be good enough.
I started the match well finishing the first session 6-2
ahead. The score line was slightly flattering, and i'm sure Judd would admit
that he hadn't played that well at all. Going into the second session of eight
frames I really just tried to carry on in the same vein as I’d started but for
some reason, and i'm still not sure what it was, things just weren't the same.
I remember that session turning after the interval when on a break of 60 odd
and needing only three more pots for the frame I had a kick on the black which
ruined my position for the next red. I went for it off the side cushion, missed
and Judd took the frame. From there I lost all the initiative in the game and
finished that session 8-8.
Into the third and final session in a race to 13, we both gave
it everything. There were big breaks, great safety play and some good
sportsmanship too and in the end it came down to a 12-12 thriller. We had the
Crucible theatre to ourselves which seemed only right after what had been a
great game. The final frame took nearly an hour to separate us and after some
great safety play and some good long potting Judd managed to gain a winning
lead and when he potted the last red with me needing several snookers, I could
do nothing more that wish him the best of luck in his Semi Final against
Ronnie.
I was gutted to lose that game as I was really starting to
fancy my chances of lifting a 2nd World Title and it seemed so close at the
time. But that is the game we play and love, there always is a winner and loser
and unfortunately for me that day it was my turn to lose.
What a fantastic match, that on a personal level, had me on the edge of my seat more than any other match in the last few years, and I couldn't take my eyes away from the action for a second during an incredibly tense final session. The match was filled with big breaks, extraordinary potting, superb safety play, incredible a tension, a first session that was dominated by Shaun Murphy, a second session that was dominated by a brilliant Judd Trump comeback to set up an unbelievably close third and final session of the match, and it was only right that the last couple of frames were played in front of the whole crucible as this match could've have easily been a World Championship final and it really was a shame that someone had to lose, and it was a shame after that, that Judd couldn't go on further that the semi-finals.
Well, it was incredibly enjoyable for me to look back on these 12 superb matches over the last couple of weeks, and now I'm looking forward to the classic snooker that 2014 is sure to bring us.
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