Shaun Murphy booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Masters with a 6-4 victory over Stephen Hendry at Wembley Arena.
Murphy dumps out Hendry while King is KO'd by McGuire
Shaun Murphy booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Masters with a 6-4 victory over Stephen Hendry at Wembley Arena.
Six-time Masters winner Hendry looked in great touch hitting two centuries but Murphy has been consistently good for some time now and he maintained his high level of form to go through.
Murphy made a half-century break to open up the match, but Hendry answered with the first century of the tournament followed by a run of 79 to go 2-1 in front.
A tight fourth frame went to Murphy before he began potting much more fluently, taking the next couple to move 4-2 ahead.
Answers back
Hendry's second ton, a break of 104, got him back in the match, but Murphy showed his own break-building prowess with a 106 to answer back in style.
It could have been a 6-3 win for Murphy but he wasted the chance when falling out of position and Hendry pounced to take it to 5-4, and there could have then been a final frame decider.
Murphy left Hendry needing a snooker, but the Scot duly obliged but then missed an easy green and Murphy only ended the match when he potted a lucky blue as nerves started to dominate.
"There are no excuses for missing that green," Hendry told the
World Snooker website. "It was part twitch and part changing my mind.
"I didn't put a good cue action on it. I played okay, but to lose of that miss is hard to take, because Shaun was getting nervous."
Murphy could play Mark Williams after the Welshman cruised through his first-round match against qualifier Rory McLeod, triumphing 6-2.
McLeod, 38, won the tough qualifying event to make his debut, but found champion Williams a class above, the two-time Masters champion easing out to a 3-1 lead.
A poor Williams miss on the pink allowed McLeod to claim a second frame after the restart, and while he did have his chances, he could not take them and Williams punished to take the next two frames.
It was the same story in the following frame, with McLeod well ahead until he missed a red for frame ball. Williams cleared up before sinking the black for the match.
Scrappy
The final match on Monday saw Stephen McGuire run out 6-3 winner in a scrappy clash with Mark King.
The world number two produced a workmanlike performance against King, who had knocked out veteran Jimmy White in the previous round.
After falling 2-1 behind, McGuire managed an impressive break of 121 to level matters and further runs of 78, 87 and 82 secured him a place in the last eight of the tournament.
Next up for the 28-year-old will be a clash with the winner of the tie between Ryan Day and Joe Perry.
