Murphy impressed with O'Sullivan

Shaun Murphy believes Ronnie O'Sullivan is already showing "ominous" form in the defence of his title at the Betfair World Championship.

Despite spending nearly a year out of the sport, O'Sullivan played some sparkling snooker in his 10-4 first-round win over Marcus Campbell on Saturday.

"I thought that to go through all of that buzz and everything he's gone through in the last 12 months, to start as he did was ominous," said Murphy, who overcame Martin Gould 10-5 on Sunday night. "But he's human and I'm sure he felt a bit nervous as well, and it'll be interesting to see how he does."

Murphy began at 5-4 ahead of Gould in their second session, and after he edged a 57-minute opening frame the 2005 champion accelerated to achieve a handsome victory.

Sale-based Murphy is prepared for the gritty side of action at the Crucible, and accepts matches will not always feature champagne snooker.

"Until a few months ago I held the record for the longest frame in a ranking event of 90-something minutes. So 50-odd minutes is nothing to me," he added.

"I was happy to stay there all night to win that frame because there's a big difference between 6-4 and 5-all.

"And this is the biggest tournament in the world. If you're going to try your best it might as well be here."