Shaun Murphy reached his first UK final today with a relatively straightforward 9-4 victory over Scottish rival Stephen Maguire tonight…
Shaun Murphy 9-4 Stephen Maguire
Number three seed Shaun Murphy completed a 9-4 win over Stephen Maguire tonight as he gained his revenge for last year’s reverse to the same opponent.
I said earlier on that hopefully we would see a better standard tonight and it seems like the players were listening as Maguire came out and almost made the perfect response as he went close to a 147, breaking down on 112. Some players might have been shocked by this but not Murphy who immediately responded with an immaculate 136 of his own.
Having shared the next two frames, Maguire putting in another century along the way, Murphy was not to be denied and wrapped it up after the interval by taking the scrappiest frame of the night. Now up against Marco Fu tomorrow, he will be looking to claim his biggest success since his breakthrough at the 2005 World Championships and really get his season back on track, though he probably has anyway!