The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Shaun Murphy begins well

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 17, 2006

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Shaun Murphy begins well

SHEFFIELD : Reigning champion Shaun Murphy got off to a solid start with a 10-4 first round win over James Wattana on the opening day of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre here on Saturday.

Murphy was not at his best but the 23-year-old Englishman, a shock 150/1 winner of snooker's greatest prize in 2005, said he'd been hampered by an infection.

Thai star Wattana made a series of mistakes, which meant Murphy never had to hit top form in the first session and raced into a 6-1 lead despite his highest break being only 55.

However, he rallied to win the next three frames, which included consecutive breaks of 61 and 63.

But Murphy stalled any prospect of a comeback when, after Wattana had missed a routine black off its spot, he made a clearance of 49 to go 7-4 up before finishing the match in comfortable fashion.

The results: First round (best of 19 frames): Shaun Murphy bt James Wattana 10-4: 71-54, 78-6 (54 break Murphy), 73-9, 28-77, 99-7 (55), 65-51, 66-22, 44-64, 8-96 (61), 8-104 (63), 64-55 (55 Wattana), 81-48, 73-40, 69-45. — Agencies

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