Welsh Open: Reigning champion Shaun Murphy knocks out Ryan Day

By Joe Mansfield.

THE 2020 Welsh Open Champion Shaun Murphy continued his title defence with an impressive 4-1 victory over Ryan Day.

The former World Champion showed his break building ability as he made breaks of over 50 in all five frames. Day was punished by large scores whenever he made an error as Murphy made a grand total of 445 points during the game.

Day is nicknamed Dynamite, but it was the high scoring of Murphy that provided the pyrotechnics to send him to the last 16 of a tournament for the first time this season.

Frame 1

Murphy started with a long red and showed excellent control to manoeuvre his way around the pack for a break of 62.

A missed plant shot from Murphy gifted Day an opportunity to fight back. Day looked like he had scuppered the chance when he rattled a simple black in the jaws of the pocket on 28. Murphy then potted a red and a brown to leave Day requiring one snooker.

‘Dynamite’ found that snooker moments later and picked up four points when his opponent failed to make contact with a red when attempting a swerve shot.

Murphy was made to pay for his error as Day cleared the table to force a re-spotted black. The recent Shoot Out winner then completed the comeback by potting the black a few shots later.

Frame 2

After losing the first frame in painful fashion Murphy licked his wounds and regathered himself. He went on to clear the table with a fabulous break of 133 after Day left a red loose in the balk area. The mammoth break was the highest of the game and signalled that Magician was in fine fettle.

Frames 3 and 4

The third and fourth frames gave viewers a feeling of déjà vu as Ryan Day missed reds in almost identical fashion. The similarities didn’t stop there as Sean Murphy went on to kill of the frames by making breaks of 84 and 87 to win his second and third consecutive frames.

Frame 5

The frame stuttered at the start as the balls broke unfavourable and the players opted for a re-rack. After not potting a ball for around 25 minutes, Day played one of the shots of the game to drop in a long red.

The lack of table time seemed to have had little effect on the Welshman as he potted 8 reds and 8 blacks and had a chance to complete a maximum break. The three-time ranking event winner has previously hit one 147 on the world tour but opted to play for the blue and try to secure the frame.

That game plan was unsuccessful due to a loose positional shot from the blue meant he had to take on a tough red to the middle, and he missed. The Magician pounced on the opportunity to seal victory and cleared the table with a break of 74.

Frame scores

1- 67 v 74 (Day)

2 – 133 v 0 (Murphy)

3 – 84 v 26 (Murphy)

4 – 87 v 0 (Murphy)

5 – 74 v 70 (Murphy)