Yuan Conquers The Magician

Yuan Sijun produced a terrific fightback to overturn 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy 5-4 and clinch his place at the Shanghai Masters.

Yuan is competing in his maiden season on the World Snooker Tour having qualified by winning the Asian Under-21 Championship . Today’s win over Murphy is only his second victory of the campaign so far. The Chinese 17-year-old trailed 4-2, but won three frames in a row, including a century run of 107, to turn the game on it’s head and claim an unlikely win.

Ali Carter held off a Sam Craigie fightback to come through a 5-4 winner. Having elected not to defend his World Open title and not qualified for last week’s European Masters, Carter hasn’t had an abundance of competitive appearances recently.

However, both players looked to be in good touch today. Craigie compiled a tournament high break of 141 and also made and a break of 128. Despite that the Captain was never behind during the tie and came through the decider to book his spot in Shanghai.

Iran’s Hossein Vafaei came from 3-0 and 4-2 down to defeat Elliot Slessor to progress. While Jack Lisowski came through a 5-1 winner over six-time world finalist Jimmy White.

For full results click here.