Maguire Thrashes Murphy

Stephen Maguire continued a rich vein of form, as he demolished world number three Shaun Murphy to reach the last 16 at the Shanghai Masters.

The Scot, who had a 147 yesterday, made break of 65 in the opening frame and then a run of 62 helped him to steal the second.

Murphy became a father earlier this month and his play seemed to lack sharpness, as he made some uncharacteristic errors. Maguire was pouncing on any mistakes and made further contributions of 75, 121 and 40 to wrap up a 5-0 win.

Maguire remarked: “I thought I played pretty solid, whenever I got a chance I scored heavily. The second frame could’ve gone either way and I think that was a turning point.”

Stuart Carrington came from behind to beat Joe Perry and damage the 42-year-old’s chances of qualifying for the new China Championship. World number 11 Perry needed to finish this event in the top ten to guarantee himself a place in Guangzhou.

In a game which swung both ways, Carrington took the opening two frames. However, Perry hit back and won the next four to lead 4-2. On the brink of defeat, Carrington hit back to take the final three frames with breaks of 78, 85 and 100. He’ll face Mark Selby in tomorrow’s last 16.

“I thought at 4-2 down I was dead and buried. It seemed to spark me up being behind and I made three good breaks to go through,” said Carrington. “It’s always tough against Mark Selby, whether he is playing well or not you have to be at your best to win.”

Judd Trump completed the fourth whitewash of the day to see off Ben Woollaston.  In what was a scrappy game, Trump was the more clinical of the pair. He made a break of 88 in the third frame on his way to the 5-0 victory. His opponent in the last 16 will be Welshman Michael White.

World number 112 Mei Xiwen produced a fine performance to shock two-time World Champion Mark Williams. Mei produced runs of 73, 76 and 117 as he claimed a 5-3 victory.