Murphy storms past Selby
Shaun Murphy dumped out world number one Mark Selby to reach the semi-finals of the BGC Masters at Alexandra Palace.
A dominant performance saw the 2005 world champion storm to a 6-2 victory as his opponent failed to produce his best form - despite going close to a 147 at one point.
The win saw Murphy seal a semi-final match with John Higgins, who beat Graeme Dott on Thursday night
Murphy missed a chance to steal the first frame after a 58 from Selby, missing a key red off the rest, but took a long and tense second after his opponent left the black over a pocket. And breaks of 88 and 52 helped Murphy into a 3-1 interval lead as the world number one struggled to establish himself in the match.
Murphy opened up a 68-point lead in the first frame back and finished off after Selby again pushed a red over a corner pocket. He suffered a kick when on 65 in the next, allowing Selby a chance to take the frame, but the Leicester player missed the yellow off its spot and Murphy duly claimed a 5-1 lead.
Selby was on course for a maximum break as he sought to claw his way back into the match, all the more so when he superbly developed the penultimate red over the middle pocket. But he played a poor positional shot to the final red and the break ended at 112 as an attempted long pot into the yellow pocket rattled out of the jaws.
It did not spark a comeback, though, as Murphy got in with 20 and 48 to leave Selby needing a snooker in the next frame and earn a place in the semis.
Earlier, Neil Robertson overcame a fightback from Mark Williams and a problem with his cue tip to book his place in the last four.
The Australian claimed a 6-4 win to set up a meeting with UK champion Judd Trump. Williams battled back from 4-1 to 4-3 down, but a break of 119 to go 5-3 in front ended the Welshman's run as Robertson edged home.
The 2010 world champion took the first and third frames on the black, either side of a 78 break from Williams, to move into a 2-1 lead, and he then racked up a 95 to go further clear. Williams narrowed the deficit, thanks partly to a 68 in frame seven, but Robertson's emphatic century ended the fightback.
