Shaun Murphy produced a stunning performance to beat Jack Lisowski 6-3 and booked a mouth-watering semi-final meeting with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the MrQ Masters in London.
Murphy and O’Sullivan will cross cues on Saturday afternoon at Alexandra Palace for the first time ever in the Masters. Indeed, it is five years since the pair last faced each other in any event on the World Snooker Tour.
Despite that, they have enjoyed a storied rivalry throughout their career. In 2017 they met in two major finals, with O’Sullivan becoming UK Champion and Murphy earning the Champion of Champions crown. Overall, the Rocket leads the head-to-head 13-3.
The Magician is gunning for a first Triple Crown title since he claimed his maiden Masters victory here at Alexandra Palace back in 2015. On that occasion he thrashed Neil Robertson 10-2 in the final to secure the title.
Defeat leaves Lisowski still seeking his first title on the professional circuit. The supremely talented Gloucester cueman has made six ranking titles but is yet to convert one to silverware. Last year at the Masters he scored wins over John Higgins and Hossein Vafaei to make the semis, but was whitewashed 6-0 against Mark Williams.
This evening’s tie looked to be another one-sided occasion when Murphy came flying out of the traps. A break of 75 gave him the opener and although Lisowski levelled with 74 in the second, he was soon placed on the back foot. Runs of 131, 76 and 123 helped him to four on the bounce and a 5-1 lead.
At that point Lisowski did summon a fightback charge and claimed the next two frames to remain in contention at 5-3.
The ninth came right down the final ball and eventually Murphy was left a treacherous shot with the black close to the top left cushion and the white in baulk. He deposited it and saluted the capacity crowd after sealing his place in the last four.
“I was nervous if I’m honest. I got to 5-1 and I didn’t want to blow the lead. I wanted to run across the line. I played so well to get to 5-1, good scoring and good shot making. I wanted to win with style and that didn’t happen. The more the match went on I started to get a little bit edgy. It is a while since I’ve been in this position in a key Triple Crown event. I was nervous and in the end, it was a wonder shot on the black that got me into the next round.”
Shaun Murphy
Number Seven Seed
Murphy added: “If you get intimidated by playing in a stage like that then unfortunately you are in the wrong business and you should seek other employment. That is what you search for as a snooker player. That is what we dream of.
“I’ve been coming here 20 years and Ronnie a lot longer. Our paths have never crossed. We’ve played pretty much everywhere else, including the Crucible and the UK Championship. We’ve played a lot of finals over the years. We have both had the wins over each other stretching over a long time. We like to entertain, I’m sure we will put a great show on and I hope I am the last man standing.”