Wembley wins for Murphy & Williams

Shaun Murphy saw off six-time champion Stephen Hendry in a high-class second-round clash in the Masters at Wembley.

Murphy surrendered a presentable chance of wrapping up a 6-3 victory in the ninth frame and could have found himself facing a decider had he not potted a fortunate blue to seal a 6-4 triumph.

Murphy started proceedings strongly with an opening half-century break on his way to taking the first frame.

Hendry hit back with a top-quality break of 114 - the first century of this year's event - followed by a 79 to go 2-1 up.

Murphy triumphed in a cagey fourth frame and took the next two to go 4-2 ahead before a second three-figure break from Hendry, this time 104, put him back in the hunt.

The response from Murphy was emphatic though, as he made a break of 106 in the next frame.
The clash could have been over had Murphy not carelessly lost control of the table at 5-3 up and 43-14 ahead. Instead Hendry managed to pull it back to 5-4.

The final frame was a fascinating affair, with Murphy at one stage leaving his opponent needing a snooker. The Scot duly obliged by putting his English opponent in trouble, with the white tucked in behind the black, and Murphy missed the blue.

But the match was eventually ended when Murphy attempted a safety and nudged in the blue, prompting Hendry to concede.

Murphy will now play Mark Williams or Ali Carter in the next stage after the former saw off outsider Rory McLeod.

Williams brushed aside the qualifier 6-2 to set up tomorrow's meeting with Carter.

McLeod won the qualifying event to make his debut in the event at the age of 38, crushing Andrew Higginson 6-1 in the final, but struggled to match his more decorated opponent.

Williams took the first frame without fuss but missed a yellow to allow McLeod the chance to clear the table and draw level.

But the Welshman took the next two to go to the mid-session interval 3-1 up after producing a break of 60 to close out the fourth frame.

A poor Williams miss on the pink allowed McLeod to claim a second frame after the restart.

McLeod had his chances to get back into the match, with Williams far from his best, but made errors at key times, allowing his rival to pick up frames six and seven.

It was the same story in the eighth frame, with McLeod well ahead until he missed a frame-ball red. Williams raced through the colours before sinking the black for the match.