Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Allen – Last 16
The first scoring juncture of this Last 16 tie came the way
of the Masters champion after a poor safety from Allen left him an easy
starter. A kick early on in the break made things tough for Murphy as he had to
leave himself a couple of mid-range testers, the second of which he missed on
38. Shaun was left another easy opener by Mark after a poor snooker escape. It
was all too easy from here for a man playing as well as Murphy was at this time
and a clearance of 94 made it 1-0. The first real opportunity of the second
frame went the way of Allen after a good pot from range and with plenty of reds
open it looked a good one too. His positional play was a little sloppy at
times, and he missed a still relatively straightforward red after a cannon into
the pack on 49. After misses out of a snooker left Allen’s lead at 31, Murphy
rubbed salt into the wound by fluking a red following a long pot attempt to
give him a massive frame winning chance. Murphy added 35 to his score, but the
key to the clearance was going to be the last red along the bottom cushion, but
he missed and left the ball in the jaws to gift a return clearance chance for
Allen. Position on the yellow was tough to obtain though, and Allen was only
able to lay a snooker with a two point advantage. Murphy fluked the yellow out
of this snooker, but did not land in area to make the green pottable and the
battle on the colours continued. Allen pushed at a pretty simple green, and
again Murphy produced a superb long pot to make the clearance to pink a formality
and double his lead at 2-0.
Frame three began with the best shot of the match so far
from Murphy, knocking in a long red whilst screwing across and cannoning the
red next to the black to land perfectly on the black and give himself an
immediate frame winning chance. With reds open, keeping in good position made
winning the frame easy and Shaun did this with a stylish 73 to move 3-0 ahead
and at this stage he looked like thrashing Allen. A couple of long range
failures from the Magician left Mark an opening, and he needed to take
advantage. An accumulation of 17 points from the two visits was not good
enough. Murphy was looking good as his contribution edged to 21 but he missed
to let Allen off of the hook. After some scrappy play Allen took a 21 point lead
with three reds left on the table in safe positions. Murphy missed a tricky cut
and when he added 15 he went 36 ahead with 35 remaining, and Shaun didn’t get
the snooker he required so Allen went into the interval with a frame on the
board but 1-3 behind.
Yet another range effort from Murphy produced the first good
opening after the break. However, when he missed the black going into the reds
on 23, he presented a way back into this match for Allen and it was important he
made the most of it. With the break on 16 he found trouble after a poor
positional shot, but an impressive cut into the middle kept the run going, and
another couple of recoveries followed but in the end a 100 clearance got the
Pistol to within a frame at 2-3. In frame six, Mark was in again straight away
after a magnificent long red was rolled in to land perfect on the black to go
into the bunch. 75 points later and the frame was Mark’s and the match back
level again at 3-3 without Murphy doing a great deal wrong at all from 3-0.
Shaun’s first chance for some time came from a poor Allen
break-off that sent a red up into the top half of the table. He made a nice
looking 46 until losing position after holding the cue ball too well to get it
to come in and out of baulk for yellow or brown after making a fine cut to the
middle. After missing a long red holding for the black with all of the reds
open, he gave Allen a massive chance to make it four frames in a row. A
contribution of 47 saw Allen take a skinny one point lead with one red left on
the table, having made a mess of position onto that final red. Shaun made a
brilliant long pot on the final red, but he couldn’t pot the green down the
side cushion and left it on for Mark to clear and move 4-3 in front. Allen had
a couple of early chances in frame eight, but his best came when Murphy caught
his safety shot far too thick and pushed a red towards the corner. Murphy was
given one last chance after Allen missed a red near the pocket coming off of
the cushion and he led at that stage by 58 with 67 remaining. An awesome long
red gave Murphy his opportunity, he managed two reds and blacks before missing
and when Allen potted another red with the green he left Murphy needing a
snooker with two reds left on the table and it looked like Shaun’s German
journey was going to be cut short.
Shaun potted the last two reds with blacks and set about
going for the one snooker he needed on the yellow. That snooker came
immediately after Shaun hid the cue ball behind the brown and Allen over
swerved and Murphy could win after Mark also left a free ball. With 24 in the
frame and 27 remaining a safety battle on the yellow looked like deciding the
frame with the other five colours in the open. Murphy created that chance after
dropping the yellow all the way down the side cushion and finishing perfect on
the green. With the pink in the wrong half of the table and Shaun failing to
get the right angle to come down for the black easily, he had to screw the pink
in and come all around the table, which still left a missable black, but it was
no trouble as the Masters champion forced a ninth and deciding frame.
From Murphy’s missed long pot, Mark had the first chance of
that decider he only collected 16 points when a kick on the black ruined his
intended position on the next red and he had to play safe. When Allen caught a
later safety too thick, he offered up a chance to his opponent from range, and
Murphy never looked like missing it and he had a good chance to at least take a
commanding position in the decider. However, he only managed 12 before missing
an easy enough pot. He soon had another stab at putting the match away when
Allen made a massive safety mistake to leave Shaun in around the pink and black
with reds open. It was all Murphy from there as he slotted home a break of 76
to win a magnificent match. At one stage Murphy was in total control, yet at
4-3 down and snooker required he looked like he was nearly done but once more
he came out fighting and robbed Allen of the win.
Shaun Murphy Vs Ronnie O’Sullivan – Quarter-Finals
It was Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals for Shaun and
the Magician had a couple of early chances but failed to accumulate anything of
note, before Ronnie had his first scoring visit. He made 35 before missing a
tough red into the top corner after falling unlucky with his attempted pack
opener. Murphy managed to fluke a red from his safety shortly after and landed
on a colour to give himself an opportunity to take the opening frame. With the
reds soon out in the open, the 77 he made to make it 1-0 was no problem at all
for the in-form cue-man. In the second frame Ronnie again had the first decent
chance but once again he couldn’t land on anything splitting the pack 31-0
ahead. Murphy’s chance came when he knocked in a plant from range and once
again the reds were nicely split for a sizeable contribution. That contribution
was 59 in the end and that put him 2-0 in front.
A pot luck safety from Shaun sent reds flying everywhere
early in frame three which sent a red over the corner for O’Sullivan. Ronnie
was soon in full flight and with the reds in favourable positions to make a
frame winning break and a classy 74 did just that to get his first frame at
1-2. Murphy’s break off in the fourth was weak leaving O’Sullivan a long red to
go at, and having knocked that in he followed with a good long blue and he was
soon off again following his frame winning break in the last. By the time the
break went to 48 Ronnie had opened the reds up and looked like levelling the
match at the break. On 94 the frame was won but Ronnie and the rest of the
Tempodrome arena became most interested in an outside table where Judd Trump
made a 147 break, overshadowing O’Sullivan’s own total clearance of 134 which
levelled the contest at 2-2
A superb long red gave Shaun Murphy the first chance after
the mid-session interval, but when he went into the pack on 17, a red followed
and the opportunity switched to Ronnie. Shaun’s misfortune was punished and a
run of 73 from O’Sullivan made it three frames in a row to lead for the first
time at 3-2. In frame six, a badly judged escape from Shaun handed an early
chance again to O’Sullivan who was clearly in top scoring form. He made 36
before losing position and laying a snooker behind the brown. Once again
Shaun’s escape was poor and O’Sullivan added 27 to win the frame and lead 4-2,
going one away from victory. Knowing what Ronnie O’Sullivan is like from in
front you would not give Shaun much chance of winning from here.
The Magician never gives up though and he was in first in
frame seven. He missed a tough blue on 20, but Ronnie’s missed rest shot handed
the chance straight back. From there Shaun added 67 and pulled a frame back at
3-4. In frame eight, Shaun cracked in another stunning long red but could only
make 23 before missing a tough red into the middle. Ronnie then knocked in a
fine red to the middle, giving him his first real chance to win the match, but
he missed a tough red into the yellow pocket on 12 after under hitting his
intended positional shot. A couple of contributions later, Murphy was in and
already 23 points ahead and he had another shot at forcing a decider adding
another 25 to go 48 in front with 43 on and O’Sullivan was unable to get the
snookers and prevent the ninth and decisive frame.
At the start of frame nine, Shaun’s range hitting was
perfect again as he knocked another long ball in to earn the first scoring
visit of the frame. He accumulated 33 before failing to break into the pack and
having to play safe. The rockets scoring juncture came after a missed long red
from Murphy but he only made 14 before losing position and attempting to volley
his chalk, but a poor safety from the Masters champion handed the baton
straight back to Ronnie. He built up a lead of 32 with 35 on, but he could not get
the last red off of the cushion and Shaun Murphy had a lifeline. He had a shot
at the last red from range but missed and left it on as a very thin cut for
Ronnie. He missed the cut and left it again for Shaun. Murphy played a cracking
shot to force the cue ball around for the pink and with the angle to on the
yellow. He then landed on the blue straight and could not get as close to the
pink as he liked, and with the black close to the pink he had to play a very
good screw shot to avoid the black, and it was still a very tough final black
but it went in off the jaw, and you could see what it meant to Shaun as he gave
a defiant fist pump and pointed out to the crowd in celebration of his 5-4 win.
Shaun Murphy Vs Liang Wenbo – Semi-Final
Shaun’s semi-final against Liang Wenbo was now over the
best-of-11 frames and looked like being a good one before the outset. Murphy
simply picked up where he left off the day before, starting with a nice range
pot but he only managed 8 before missing a difficult red from middle distance.
This gave his Chinese opponent his first scoring visit to the table, but his
break broke down on 29 after missing a tricky red along the bottom rail. Much
to his own disgust, Wenbo hit his next safety all wrong and gave his opponent a
fairly easy starter by his high standards. However he could only add 24 points
before missing and looking up to the crowd in disgust at someone who may have
put him off. Wenbo then potted four reds and blacks before missing the final
red which would have been frame ball, and he left the red on for a possible
Murphy clearance. Clear is exactly what Shaun did with 32 to take the opening
frame. The second frame started very similarly to the first with yet another
long pot from Murphy, and this time he was looking to convert the chance into a
lot more. Off of his second blue he was straight into the pack and he could not
have asked for a better split than the one he got. With the balls as he wanted,
it wasn’t long before the frame was in the bag, stamping his authority on the
match with a magnificent 141 total clearance to move 2-0 in front. A bad miss
from Wenbo let Murphy in again straight away in frame three, and there were no
signs of him letting up until he failed to get into the pack on 45. Wenbo
earned the next chance after a well picked out plant, but he missed his next
attempted red with awkward bridging, but Shaun only made 6 in return before
missing a cut to the corner. Another scoring juncture came and went for Liang
and after he failed to cannon the final two reds into play, he had squared the
frame scores with 43 possible points remaining. Murphy calmly knocked a tough
penultimate red into the middle and he landed perfectly on the final red
perfectly with the colours on their spots for the clearance and there was no
trouble going 3-0 ahead.
Frame four started by Shaun actually missing a long pot, as
Wenbo was able to carve out a scoring visit. With the reds in decent positions,
Liang knew he would only have to play them in sequence and keep hold of tight
position around the black to get his first frame on the board. A quick fire
break of 90 did just that as he trailed at the interval 1-3. Following that
break, Murphy was in first again with what by now were coming “routine” long
pots. Another very good red rolled into the yellow pocket kept the break going but
a few shots later he could not repeat the feat and the break ended prematurely
on 18. The next scoring visit came after Wenbo knocked an easy long pot in and
fortuitously land on a colour. A clever plant kept the run going early, and as
the break moved to 37 he had the reds open and at his mercy to close to within
a single frame. He did just that with the added bonus of making a century, a
106 clearance making it 2-3.
After frame six was re-racked, an early Murphy safety put a
red over the corner but it was covered with three over reds. Wenbo sent reds
flying everywhere, one of which knocked in the red over the corner and another
fluked in the middle to give him the first scoring visit. The break ended on 34
when Liang lost position and laid a good snooker behind the brown. From here
the frame took a rather scrappy turn as the remaining reds ran into awkward
positions. Shaun had the next decent opening and he cleared the remaining reds
with colours but he missed a tricky yellow and left it for Wenbo who already
had a 12 point lead and he did enough to win the frame and level at 3-3 as
Murphy’s commanding lead disappeared. A poor safety let Wenbo straight back in
again in frame seven with the Chinese looking to go ahead for the first time.
The break moved on to 33 before he went into the pack and was unable to land on
a red to continue proceedings. After a missed pot from mid-range from Liang,
Shaun had a chance out of nowhere really after a series of poor safety shots
from him. After playing a shot to split the black and the final two reds, one
red ended up over a pocket, forcing Murphy into taking on a tough pink, which
he missed to let Wenbo back in, only 6 points adrift. He too missed the pink
though and left the final red on for Murphy, who in potting that red brought
the brown from off of the side cushion into open play. Having done the hard work,
he then missed what for him was a routine yellow, and Liang cleared to a very
well played pink to win his fourth frame in a row and lead 4-3.
Liang was back in again first in frame eight after a horror
safety from Murphy. However, the break ended on 14 as he tried to power a red
in a long the bottom cushion, leaving a great chance for Murphy with the reds
not badly placed to level the match. He ran out of position on just 11 though
and was forced into a safety shot. Shaun was straight back in after Wenbo’s
safety pushed a red to corner and he was quickly in perfect position. A swift
break of 65 did the rest of the work and levelled the match up once more as
Murphy stopped the rot to make it 4-4. Frame nine began with Shaun rolling in
another trademark long red and landing nicely on the pink to get quickly into
his stride. He was quickly into the reds on 23 and had them all there as he
wanted them, looking to go back ahead and take control again. The rest of the
break just seemed to be easy pickings as Shaun was at his best, making his
second total clearance of the match, a magnificent 145 this time to go 5-4 in
front. Yet again in frame ten it was a good range pot that got the Masters
champion going as he aimed to book his place in the final here and now. He went
into the pack from the blue, getting a good split but from the next red he
cannoned into the black and red that had run together after the split and
nearly went in-off forcing a safety. He was soon back in after rolling in a
good red to the middle, and went into the pack again from the brown getting a
great split and landing on a red once again with all the balls in decent
positions for a match-winning break. He did exactly that finishing with a break
of 89, a missed pink costing him what would most likely have been a third
century of the match, but what a response firstly from Liang to Shaun’s early
brilliance, but then from Murphy to come back with the same magnificent snooker
after losing four frames in a row in what was a truly superb contest.
Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Selby – Final
The opening frame of this final got off to a slow start, but
the first real chance came to Murphy after knocking in a good red and staying
on the pink. He made 33 before losing position and laying a very tricky snooker
behind the green which had Mark in trouble. The balls began running safe and
Mark Selby did well to level the frame scores with three reds left, and on his
second scoring visit but he snookered himself on the green having to go around
the table to gain position, leading by 14 with 25 remaining. Selby made a good
double on the green and cut the brown in to win the opening frame and lead 1-0.
The first chance in the second was also created by Mark following a stunning
long red, although the break ended prematurely on 24 as he missed a fairly
simple red to the middle. Both players then had opportunities to score but none
clear cut with both guys missing balls and making positional errors. When Mark
Selby caught his safety thick and opened the remaining reds, Murphy knocked in
a good long ball and just landed on a colour with a chance to level the match.
A break of 72 did just that and made it 1-1. Selby knocked in a good long red
again in the early stages of the third to give him the first scoring juncture
and followed up with a thin cut to the middle he was soon in good position. His
total was built by 44 before he wobbled a tricky red in the jaws of the middle
pocket, but he was straight back in after the red ran into a tough position and
Murphy failed to pot it with the rest. With no angle on a colour to split the
bunch though, the Jester opted to put the green nearer the side cushion. A
badly judged escape from a later snooker gave Selby the chance he required to
finish off the frame with an additional 53 to lead 2-1.
Frame four started with missed long balls from both players,
but the second of Selby’s left an easier chance for the Masters champion. A
good long red on 4 kept the break going and an equally difficult red to the
middle on 16 soon had him in great shape with reds in positions for a frame
winning contribution. It certainly wasn’t easy at times but a thrilling 130
total clearance was the perfect way for the Magician to level the match again
at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval. A beautifully struck ball from
range had Murphy straight back into it after the break, he soon had the black
open on 17 and back on its spot, and left the angle from the black on 34 to get
into the bunch of reds and once more this was perfectly executed. A good black
on 54 made sure that the break became a frame winner, and it was quickly
consecutive centuries as Shaun found top gear with a 118 break.
The signs were good yet again for Shaun at the beginning of
frame six as he cracked in a brilliant long red and followed with a top draw
blue from range as well. A rare miss on 31 gave Selby his first chance for some
time but he failed to get on any of the final three reds on the right side
cushion and had to play safe with a five point advantage. Murphy won the safety
battle and did well to manoeuvre the final three reds but failed to pot a
difficult green leading by 19 with 25 remaining. A well laid snooker in the
safety from Shaun was missed and with the green over the pocket also that
proved to be the frame winner as Murphy went two clear at 4-2. Another cracker
of a long pot set the Magician going again on this sparkling spell of snooker
but he only made 24 before slightly overrunning his intended positional shot
and finishing on nothing. An even better long range ball got him back in and a
good black to follow saw the reds spread far and wide once again. Murphy was
flying at this stage, with the frame soon wrapped up to guarantee him an end of
first session lead with an additional 51 sealing a 5-2 advantage.
Murphy once again had the first great chance of frame eight
as a lacklustre Selby safety left a chance at a still difficult pot down the
side cushion and from the following black he was straight into the pack with a
great split again. The break hurried along to 47, before Shaun left himself a
tester into the yellow pocket, but he missed and left a chance for the world
number 1, but he could only make 8 in return before losing position. Shaun won
the safety battle, and just when he looked like winning the frame 54 up with 67
on he lost position after a big bounce off of the side cushion. A later missed
long pot left Selby a chance to clear and steal a huge frame. He negotiated the
remaining reds well and with the colours on their spots cleared with 64 to make
it 3-5 at the end of the session when it looked like being 2-6 and a mere
formality for Murphy.
At the start of the second session, Shaun continued where he
had left off in the afternoon with a cracking long pot to get proceedings
going. The break ran to 35 before he missed a red in the jaws that looked like
it would still drop in. Selby looked much more at ease now and with the reds in
nice positions he got down to the last red comfortably, and after making a very
risky cut down the side cushion he cleared again with 92 to close to within one
at 4-5. The tenth began as many of the others had with the first scoring
juncture coming from the cue of Shaun Murphy after a missed long attempt from
Selby. After glancing the pack on 28 he lost position and had to play safe much
sooner than he’d like. Selby’s first scoring visit of the frame came following
a long attempt from Shaun that just rattled the jaws with both red and cue ball
coming up the table. Mark was making good progress towards winning another
frame before he rattled a tough black ball on 52, 24 ahead with 51 remaining.
Murphy potted the next two reds, with a particularly good shot on the
penultimate red to roll that along the black cushion but he couldn’t remove the
final red from a safe position, trailing by 9 with 35 left. Murphy laid an
impressive snooker soon after, and when Selby missed he also left a free ball
where Shaun opted to take on a tough brown, missing it but also leaving a very
fine cut on the red which was made by his opponent who cleared to level at 5-5.
The eleventh started with a rare miss from range from the
Masters champion, gifting another chance to the 2014 world champion. The reds
were already nicely positioned and required simple but clever positional play
with a few soft cannons to pick the reds off in sequence and make a frame
winning break. A marvellous 93 did more than enough for Selby to lead for the
first time since early in the afternoon session, now 6-5 in front. The twelfth
frame was much the same as Selby was gifted an opening by Murphy’s poor safety
this time. With black and pink out of play, Mark found the positional side of
the break tough, only making 12 without getting into prime position. Another
sub-standard return to baulk from Shaun allowed Mark another scoring visit. This
time he very much did the hard work and looked good for the frame before a
simple miss on the black. This left Shaun a lifeline, as he cleared down to the
last red, which he narrowly missed along the bottom cushion and Selby was able
to pot it taking the cushion first option and when he made a tough green across
the top cushion it was 7-5 to Selby at the mid-session interval.
Despite being on a five frame losing streak, Murphy
continued playing positively, and the long red he knocked in in frame thirteen
was evidence of that, cannoning another red away to land perfectly on the
black. That allowed him the first scoring visit of the frame. The break
continued when on 26 he fluked a red going for an insane plant, which also
split the reds perfectly to make it a possible frame winner. The magician
certainly made it a frame winner, extending the break to 80 and clawing a frame
back to trail at 6-7. Selby’s failed long attempt in frame fourteen gave Murphy
another good chance almost immediately, and it was already looking good until
he missed an elementary black on 33. Selby let him off the hook though having
to play safe after accumulating only 13. Selby was back in not too long
afterwards though, and played himself into a 19 point with just 35 remaining
after his failure to nudge the final red away from the cushion more. With Selby
missing a shot on the red, Murphy had his opportunity and despite leaving
himself cueing tight on the side cushion for the final black, he cleared to win
a massive frame and level the match at 7-7.
Frame fifteen was obviously going to be huge at this stage
of a first to 9 final, and Selby had the first chance to put himself in control
of it. Position was tough to maintain having to continually play for blue, and
it was going well before failing to land on his next red after putting together
41. A very poor safety from Shaun as such a key time, putting a red over the
corner could not have made it easier for the Jester and even though he did not
put the frame to bed at that visit he was in a very commanding position 51
ahead with only 59 possible points remaining. Murphy did get a chance to
counter after Selby missed a shot at frame ball. He reduced his deficit by 19
to trail by 32 with 35 remaining but could not land on the final red along the
black cushion. After a battle of safety, Selby knocked in the final red from
range to kill off the frame and take the 8-7 lead and give himself two chances
effectively to win the German Masters title. After the sixteenth frame was
re-racked, Mark belted in a long range red which was sticking out from Murphy’s
break-off. Selby put himself within touching distance of the trophy from that
red with a run of 51 before losing position. When he got back in and added
another 18 to his score, that was enough to clinch a thrilling match, that at
5-2 and 61-0 behind he never looked like winning, but after stealing that frame
and winning the first four of the evening, Murphy did well himself to get back
in it at 7-7 instead of rolling over. In fact Shaun Murphy’s key theme across
all of these classic matches from the 2015 German Masters was his ability to
hand tough and never give up despite losing four frames in a row at some stage
in all of the four games I’ve detailed above.
The main reason I decided to do a compilation of these games is that they all stood out for different reasons and I only had one space left in my countdown to fit them in, but I couldn't simply pick one as you can see from how amazing each match was individually. With the obvious theme I then spotted I decided a compilation was the best way forward.
Come back tomorrow and find out what I have in store for 10th place.
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