Tonight saw the Premier League return to our screen and it was a good night for defending champion Shaun Murphy as he brushed aside Ding Junhui to top the table after night one. Ronnie O’Sullivan and Marco Fu drew 3-3 in the night’s other match…
Coming into tonight’s opening match with 12 competitive matches already under his belt this season, Shaun was on paper far better prepared than his opponent who had not picked up a cue since his loss to Murphy at the World Championship – and it showed. From the off Ding whilst not playing terribly, missed a few shots that I suspect he would not have done had he had a few more matches under his belt and a sharp Murphy eventually took full advantage, breaks of 124 and 109 taking him to a 5-1 victory.
Having experienced a slow start to his campaign last season, Murphy will be pleased to have got two points on the board so early this season, particularly against a player who I regard as possibly the most comfortable with the shot clock aside from Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Speaking of O’Sullivan, he also made two centuries tonight in what was an impressive performance but that was not enough to see off the challenge of Marco Fu, who looked much improved in comparison to the player that we saw in the competition last season. I was pleased to see Marco play well as while clearly not the most comfortable player with the shot clock, I don’t believe that he is as poor with it as is widely believed and view him as something of a dark horse this season. The 16/1 quoted for him to win the tournament prior to tonight’s tournament was I feel slightly generous.
The Premier League will next be back on the 16th September 2010 at the Plymouth Pavilions when O’Sullivan and Ding meet and the Marks, Selby and Williams enter the fray.
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Ding Junhui
71-51 (51 Ding), 69-38 (45 Murphy), 0-128 (65, 63 Ding), 124-0 (124 Murphy), 86-31 (55 Murphy, 31 Ding), 109-0 (109 Murphy)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 3-3 Marco Fu