Day 3 of my feature looking back on the players of the year, month by month sees us go back to March. The main man all of those months ago in my opinion was Shaun Murphy and this what I had to say about him back in March:
After a busy month on the snooker circuit with the conclusion of the Welsh Open, the Championship League winners group, the Haikou World Open and the Players Championship Grand Finals, I gave the Player of the Month award to a man that picked up some nice results throughout the month, with the highlight being his first ranking win for 3 years and that would be the Haikou World Open champion Shaun Murphy.
Shaun Murphy's March started with him reaching the semi-finals of the Championship League winners group before losing out in a decider 3-2 to Judd Trump, that gave him some good practice though for the big one in Haikou where he beat Jimmy White, Mark King, Ding Junhui, Graeme Dott, Mark Allen and then Mark Selby to walk away with the title. He finished up the month with a brilliant win against Neil Robertson at the Players Championship Grand Finals before ending the month with a slight blip, barely getting going in a 4-0 Last 16 loss to Judd Trump.
As we saw as part of February's Moment of the Month, Shaun received a timely boost in Gdynia, winning the 8th and final European Tour event of the season at the Gdynia Open and that has really seen him come on leaps and bounds from his disappointing semi-finals exit at The Masters where he never thought he'd win a major again, never mind in 2 months time. He's worked hard this season both on and off of the table, and I think he knew deep down that it was only a matter time before he could win major titles again, all he needed was a bit of confidence on the match table to show himself that his capabilities were still there. One thing he hadn't been doing in the last 2 or 3 years was winning the big matches against the big players, so I think the particularly impressive matches in March from Shaun were his wins against Ding Junhui, Mark Allen and Mark Selby at the World Open and against Neil Robertson at the Players Championship, confirming to me on more than one occasion that he was playing snooker of a high quality, worthy of making him March's player of the month.
Now I'm going to have a quick look back at some of those impressive wins that got him the player of the month title:
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Ding Junhui (Last 16 of the Haikou World Open):
This was one match where Shaun Murphy wouldn't have been much fancied to win, especially with his seasons form or his form in big games at times in the last 2 or 3 seasons. The match started well for him though as he took the opener with the help of a 53 break, before then losing a scrappy second. A break of 57 put Murphy ahead again before he won the next frame on the black needing 2 or 3 chances, putting him 3-1 up at the interval and that frame would've really hurt Ding. However, he didn't show it and after the break he came back with some of the form that took him to 4 ranking titles prior to this contest. Runs of 92 and 76 squared the match up at 3-3 as Ding did what he'd done so many times throughout the season and produced some heavy scoring when under a lot of pressure in matches. Shaun Murphy hit back though in the next, despite needing 3 chances he dominated the 7th as Ding didn't pot a ball, putting the 2005 World Champion back in front once again at 4-3 and one frame from victory. The match really deserved a decider though and that was what it got as breaks of 34 and 38 gave Ding the 8th frame to make it 4-4 with a one frame shoot-out for a place in the quarter-finals. Shaun got an early 53 point lead in the decider and the Chinaman really was just unable to recover from there as Murphy delivered once more under pressure and got another big confidence boosting victory, the type that he knew he would need in order to win more and more ranking events and receive his payment for all of the hard work he'd put in.
Shaun Murphy 10-6 Mark Selby (Final of the Haikou World Open):
This match was another prime example of Shaun Murphy getting back to his best and re-discovering the form that won him all of his titles to this point and that was by attacking the balls and taking matches by the scruff of the neck. However, this game also highlighted the improvements that he'd made through hard work and patience to find a balance between all out attack and going into his shell with improvements to his safety play.
The match itself saw Murphy surge into an early lead in the first session of this best of 19 clash. Breaks of 64 and then a brilliant 80 when Selby broke down on 46 helped into a 2-0 lead before he then one a slightly scrappier frame, the type of which you'd have expected Mark to be winning before this match began. A break of 58 in the fourth insured that Shaun went into the first sessions mid-session break with the best possible start at 4-0. Selby started hitting back though in his true gritty style and he looked like he was getting a grip in the match winning the first 2 after the break, but it didn't affect Murphy and he reeled off one of his best mini spells of snooker in years to make breaks of 98, 105 and 112 to not give Selby a look in for the last 3 frames of the session as he took a 7-2 lead only needing 3 more to clinch the title in the evening session.
Mark Selby mounted another fight back at the start of the second session which Murphy had to fend off well to win the title. A break of 78 was followed up by Selby winning one of his trademark scrappy frames and then breaks of 43 and 34 in the 12th made it only 7-5 to Murphy. However, a gutsy break of 60 from Shaun steadied the ship again as he went into the final mid-session break 8-5 ahead and in a more stable position than when he was rattled by Selby earlier on. Selby needed a couple of chances to take the next and the pressure was really on Shaun at 8-6 with Selby 49 points ahead in the 15th. However, a stunning long red in a break of 78 put Shaun Murphy just a frame from his first title in 3 years at 9-6. Shaun finished it off in a style that he's not exactly known for, having to grind out the 16th frame gathering an early lead of 71 with breaks of 27, 24 and 20 before spending about 15 minutes fending off Selby's attempts to get several unlikely snookers, making Murphy work hard but he did eventually get over the line showing his battling quality's as well as his brilliant scoring form and aggressive intent. A brilliant example of what Shaun can do at his best, learning from several bad defeats to his good friend Mark Selby.
Shaun Murphy 4-2 Neil Robertson (Last 32 Players Championship):
This match may have only been a best - of - 7 frames encounter but it was another impressive win and performance from Shaun who'd really had a problem beating Neil Robertson in any kind of ranking event over the last 2-3 seasons. The problem he'd had was finding the balance between defence and attack, something he seemed to have perfectly in this match. His long pot success throughout the match was sublime at around 90% which really is quite something having a long pot success as high as your overall pot success rate.
The match didn't start perfectly for Shaun, losing the opening frame to Neil who had been in fine form over the course of the season, already sitting pretty on 92 season centuries by this stage, and it was a break of 55 that helped him get things going here. Murphy hit back immediately though winning the next frame without Robertson scoring a point, a 70 break from him levelling the match at 1-1. The next frame would prove a key one with both players having a lot of chances, but it was Murphy that won the key safety battles within it to take a 2-1 lead. Both players had chances to win the next, but it was Neil that won the key battles this time, showing how evenly matched these 2 were both on paper and on the table at 2-2. However, the tables turned again in the fifth as it was Murphy that won yet another tactical frame in a match that was starting to be defined on it's bouts of safety play, with players having chances but seeming unable to kill frames off in one visit as things turned scrappier. Needing only one more frame for victory though Shaun Murphy had more of a clean kill in the last frame though as a break of 64 gave him the frame he needed and a very impressive all round performance and a 4-2 win against Neil Robertson.
So, as you can see Shaun Murphy really raised his game during March beating some of the players of the season on the way to better ranking finishes and his first ranking title for exactly 3 years. He'd worked incredibly hard and re-discovered the way that he'd won all of his previous titles in the past, and with his large blip behind him now I expect him to keep adding to his trophy collection in the coming years.
Your player of the month for March then: Shaun Murphy. Who took the honours back in April? All will be revealed tomorrow.
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