Snooker News
Shaun Murphy claimed Masters success for a second time after a superb 10-7 victory over Kyren Wilson in a thrilling final at Alexandra Palace.
Murphy had been irresistible all week and produced only the sixth maximum break in the tournament’s history in his semi-final win over Mark Allen.
Continue reading...Shaun Murphy crafted a magnificent 147 break as he came from behind to beat Mark Allen 6-3 and secure his place in the Masters final at Alexandra Palace.
He will now play Kyren Wilson for the title after the reigning world champion beat the current world No 1 Judd Trump by the same score in Saturday’s second semi-final.
Continue reading...Kyren Wilson edged out Luca Brecel 6-4 in an enthralling encounter at the Masters to set up a semi-final meeting with Judd Trump.
Wilson kept his nose in front after opening up an early 2-0 lead and outlasted Brecel in a see-saw contest, which had a scrappy, dogged ending. Shaun Murphy, tournament winner in 2015, will play the 2018 champion, Mark Allen, in the other last-four tie.
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Continue reading...Shaun Murphy fell just short of a 147 break as he defeated Neil Robertson to move into the Masters semi-finals at Alexandra Palace.
In the eighth frame, in which he completed a 6-2 victory, Murphy was on course for a maximum until he misjudged his shot as he potted the black to take his break to 120 and snookered himself on the yellow behind the blue.
Continue reading...A relieved Kyren Wilson completed the quarter-final lineup of the Masters when he beat Zhang Anda 6-4 at Alexandra Palace.
Wilson had led 3-1 at the interval but failed to score a point in the next two frames as Zhang made breaks of 65 and 83 to get back on level terms. A break of 69 edged Wilson back in front and although Zhang responded with a clearance of 141 – the highest in the tournament so far – Wilson took the next two frames to get over the line.
Continue reading...Ronnie O’Sullivan has called his withdrawal from this year’s Masters event “a nightmare decision”, adding that he “lost the plot” and broke his cue in half before dropping out of last week’s Championship League.
Speaking in his role as a pundit on Eurosport, O’Sullivan said: “It was a nightmare decision, really, to make. If you’d asked me Sunday if I was ready to play, I probably would have been OK to play, but it’s such a massive tournament.”
Continue reading...Neil Robertson made the most of his late call up to the Masters with a stunning fightback from 5-1 down to beat John Higgins 6-5.
Robertson, who won the prestigious top-16 event in 2012 and 2022, was gifted the chance to face Higgins in the opening match after reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan’s withdrawal.
Continue reading...Reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the upcoming Masters snooker event on medical grounds.
The world No 3, who has won the competition eight times, was due to face John Higgins in the opening match on Sunday afternoon. Neil Robertson has replaced O’Sullivan in the draw for the tournament, which runs until 19 January at Alexandra Palace in London.
Continue reading...Magnus Carlsen’s jeans put the spotlight on chess’s sartorial intransigence but it is not the only sport struggling to adapt
Wallace and Gromit is a festive TV staple in many a household – but it wasn’t their wrong trousers that scooped the post-Christmas headlines. That honour belonged to Magnus Carlsen, disqualified from a chess tournament in New York for wearing jeans.
The world No 1 – who also happens to be the only current chess player most people can name – had balked when he was told to change his attire before his ninth-round match at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Walking out of the event, Carlsen shrugged that he would “probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer”. Instead, he returned three days later after the governing body, Fide, had agreed a more “flexible approach” to its dress code.
Continue reading...The seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry has led the tributes to Terry Griffiths, who has died aged 77, calling him “a great man and a great player”.
Griffiths worked as a miner, postal worker and bus conductor before turning professional in 1978 and winning the world snooker title at his first attempt aged 31, beating Dennis Taylor in the 1979 final. The Welshman then became one of the most identifiable players in the 1980s snooker boom alongside Steve “Interesting” Davis, Alex “Hurricane” Higgins and “the Whirlwind”, Jimmy White, reaching No 3 in the world.
Continue reading...The former world snooker champion Terry Griffiths has died at the age of 77 after a “lengthy battle with dementia”, his family have confirmed.
Griffiths famously came through the qualifying rounds to win the 1979 Crucible world title, beating Dennis Taylor 24-16 in the final. The Welshman also won the Masters title in 1981 and the UK Championship in 1982 to complete the sport’s illustrious “triple crown”, and reached a career-high world ranking of No 3.
Continue reading...Judd Trump was forced to work overtime to end his 13-year wait for a second UK Championship title after squeezing past the dogged challenge of Barry Hawkins in York.
Trump was stuck in his seat as Hawkins won two in a row to reduce the deficit to a single frame before the world No 1 pounced on a missed red from his opponent with a 67 break that proved just enough to seal a 10-8 win.
Continue reading...Judd Trump reeled off six frames in succession to beat Kyren Wilson 6-2 and secure his place in the final of the UK Championship for the first time since 2020. The world No 1 capitalised on mistakes from his misfiring opponent to exact some measure of revenge for defeats in finals in Xian and Belfast this season.
While Trump produced nothing like the form he showed when he swept aside Zhang Anda in the last eight, it proved more than enough to line him up for another shot at the prestigious trophy he lifted in 2011.
Continue reading...Judd Trump is relishing the next chapter of his emerging rivalry with Kyren Wilson after the pair swept into the UK Championship semi-finals in York on Friday.
Trump compiled four centuries and 527 points without reply in his 6-2 win over Zhang Anda while Wilson overcame the tournament’s surprise package Michael Holt 6-3.
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