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Murphy into World Snooker Championship final after edging Higgins / Photo: © AFP
Murphy into World Snooker Championship final after edging Higgins
Shaun Murphy defeated four-time champion John Higgins in a dramatic World Championship semi-final on Saturday to leave the Englishman just one match away from adding a second global snooker title to the one he won 21 years ago.
The Englishman will now face the winner of the second semi-final between China's Wu Yize and Northern Ireland's Mark Allen, who are locked at 11-11 in a match that will be played to a finish later Saturday.
"I came out today knowing if I got my chances I could score," Murphy told the BBC following a tense victory at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in northern England that saw him into his fifth world final.
He added: "But John Higgins... What a player and what a man. The harder it gets on the table the tougher he gets. He's such a competitor. If I'm half the player when I'm in my fifties as he is, I'll be very proud."
- 'Hits it like God' -
Higgins, 51 later this month, said: "My shot on the black on the frame at the end there was very weak."
Nevertheless, he paid tribute to Murphy by saying: "But the way Shaun hit the ball in that last session -- you cannot hit it better than that. It was incredible, it really was. He just hits it like God. I am disappointed, but what can you do?"
Play in the best of 33-frame contest between Murphy and Higgins resumed with the Scot narrowly ahead at 13-11 thanks to a fine century clearance in Friday's final frame.
Murphy has been the runner-up in three previous appearances in the world final since lifting snooker's most prestigious trophy back in 2005.
One of those defeats was by Higgins, a comfortable 18-9 winner in the 2009 showpiece match.
But Murphy signalled his intentions early in Saturday's concluding session with superb breaks of 132 and 127 to draw level at 13-13.
Higgins, 51 later this month, then showed the battling qualities that have made him such a renowned match-player to restore his two-frame advantage.
Yet an undaunted Murphy's third century of the session revived his fortunes and he then capitalised on a missed black and loose safety shot by Higgins to get back into the match.
Such was the tension both players missed balls they would expect to pot before Murphy won the 31st frame.
And the 43-year-old eventually held his nerve in the next to reach the final after Higgins broke down on a break of 50.
M.Gonzalez--SFF
