Shaun Murphy gained the Masters final yr, however within the 2026 match, his competitors was ended earlier than it even began
Shaun Murphy was shocked on the primary match of his title defence (Picture: BBC) This text comprises affiliate hyperlinks, we are going to obtain a fee on any gross sales we generate from it. Be taught extra
Shaun Murphy’s defence of the Masters has been ended right away by Wu Yize. Murphy, 43, beat Kyren Wilson within the closing final yr to win the £350,000 prize, and would have been assured going into Alexandra Palace.
Nonetheless, the Brit endured an arduous efficiency towards the Chinese language star and misplaced 6-2. His match was plagued by quite a few errors which had been punished rapidly by Wu. The teen rapidly took a 3-0 lead and by no means appeared like letting it sleep. Murphy completed by taking two frames, however by no means obtained near a century break. He appeared set to increase the sport and transfer inside two legs of Wu within the closing set, however one other routine miss on the purple resulted within the Chinese language ace, who’s making his debut at Ally Pally, seeing out the victory.
After the match, Murphy advised the BBC: “I’ve appeared ahead to in the present day for a few yr. I actually appeared ahead to that second, strolling out as champion.
“I loved in regards to the first ten minutes of it, however the remainder of the match was extremely disagreeable. I didn’t play effectively in any respect and it is probably the worst efficiency, definitely off my season, and maybe of my historical past taking part in on the Masters.
“I am very disenchanted, gutted, in reality. Not simply to lose, however to lose like that. It was very under par and, yeah, I’m very disenchanted.”
When requested what precisely went improper, he stated: “It might be simpler to record the facets which had been there, none of it was there. It felt like every part I touched went improper.
It was a nightmare afternoon for Murphy (Picture: Getty)
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“None of my sport carried out effectively. However I’ve completely no thought why. I have been working very laborious on my sport, I have been working towards laborious on plenty of snooker because the UK Championship.
“I did not count on to play like that so I’m as shocked as anybody. However, I will attempt to use Kyren’s (Wilson’s) inspiration from final yr. After defeat, he went straight to Germany and gained the German Masters. So, I will take a couple of days to lick my wounds and head to Berlin and attempt to win that one.”
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Wu began brightly, solely simply lacking out on a century break in body one, earlier than recording a powerful 138 to go 2-0 up. Regardless of the very fact the 22-year-old had by no means performed on the Palace, he made his method across the desk like a seasoned professional.
At no level was Murphy allowed to place collectively two consecutive frames in a row to place the strain on the teen. He’ll face both Mark Selby and Xiao Guodong within the subsequent spherical.
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