Shaun Murphy crashed out of the BetVictor Welsh Open with a 4-3 defeat against world number 75 Ma Hailong, a result which dents his hopes of an automatic spot at the Crucible in April.
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Murphy won the Johnstone's Paint Masters last month, his greatest moment for a decade, but his record in ranking events over the past two seasons has been patchy and as it stands he is 19th in the Race to the Crucible with just four more counting events to come. If he's not able to climb into the top 16 in that list by the end of April's Sportsbet.io Tour Championship, he will face the qualifying rounds in Sheffield.
From 2-0 down today, Murphy made breaks of 127, 100 and 82 to lead 3-2. But China's 21-year-old Ma hit back with a break of 77 for 3-3, then built a 71-0 lead in the decider. Murphy kept fighting and got the two snookers he needed on the last red, but could only watch in despair as Ma fluked the red when attempting safety to clinch his best win on tour. He goes through to the last 32 to face Ryan Day.
Murphy said: "I thought when I got the two snookers that I might get an opportunity but it wasn't to be. I have lost here and in Berlin in deciding frames without getting a chance. It was a really good match, Ma was excellent and I can only praise him. I had two centuries and an 80, I tried my best and I lost."
Barry Hawkins, runner-up in two ranking events this season, also fell at the first hurdle, losing 4-1 to Sanderson Lam. "It's a big scalp for me to beat a top 16 player," said Lam. "I much prefer playing in venues like this with a big crowd, it brings the best out of me. My big ambition this season is to get to the Crucible, that's my dream. I'm enjoying snooker, playing well and putting a lot into practice."
World Champion Kyren Wilson narrowly avoided defeat against Marco Fu, winning 4-3 by making his 500th career century in the deciding frame. Fu came from 3-1 down to 3-3 with breaks of 79 and 139 and had first chance in the decider but potted just one red before missing the brown to a baulk corner. Wilson, winner of three ranking titles already this season, punished him with a 103, becoming the 14th player to reach the landmark of 500 tons.
Matthew Selt thrashed Ricky Walden 4-0 with a top break of 102, a huge result in the race to qualify for the World Grand Prix as Selt is now up to 31st and, as it stands, would make it to Hong Kong. "That was one of the biggest matches I have played for a few years so it was great to be fully focussed all the way through. Getting into the World Grand Prix is the goal this week. I'll be watching the other games now and hoping everyone else in the race loses! When I got here I had no chance of winning, I worked with my coach Chris Henry and I was hitting the wrong side of the white and the object ball, so I have to give credit to Chris for fixing what I was doing wrong."
Day remains in the same race thanks to a 4-2 win over Ben Mertens, though he must reach the quarter-finals to have a chance. David Gilbert made a break of 100 in the decider to edge out Jordan Brown 4-3. Matthew Stevens earned a 4-2 success in a Welsh derby against Crucible runner-up Jak Jones.
Wu Yize, runner-up at both the BetVictor English Open and BetVictor Scottish Open this season, needs to reach another final this week to have a chance of winning the £150,000 BetVictor Bonus, and he came from 3-1 down to beat Scott Donaldson 4-3.