A typically gritty Mark Selby performance saw him beat Si Jiahui 10-6 and move into the last eight of the Tour Championship.
Si has never beaten The Jester and it was clear early on why that is: he doesn’t have the safety game to win enough exchanges, to get enough chance to pot.
So Selby took the opening frame, winning both afternoon min-sessions 3-1, and though he was careless at times in the evening, he was never going to give up a 6-2 lead, continuing to raise his level every time he was threatened, eventually setting up a quarter-final meeting with Neil Robertson.
Shaun Murphy’s 10-1 defeat to an inspired five-century Barry Hawkins at the Tour Championship has been an oddly recurring theme of the campaign. The Masters holder has been left applauding several figures playing flawless levels of snooker. “It’s not the first time this season, when I have come off a match having lost and not felt I have done that much wrong,” said the 2005 world champion.
Shaun Murphy’s 10-1 defeat to an inspired five-century Barry Hawkins at the Tour Championship has been an oddly recurring theme of the campaign. The Masters holder has been left applauding several figures playing flawless levels of snooker. “It’s not the first time this season, when I have come off a match having lost and not felt I have done that much wrong,” said the 2005 world champion.
