Murphy Wins in Brazil

Shaun Murphy romped to victory in the inaugural Brazil Masters – the Englishman whitewashing Graeme Dott 5-0 to claim the trophy.

The 2005 world champion had earlier defeated Stephen Hendry in a one-sided affair 5-1 and maintained his dominance against an evidently out-of-sorts opponent in the final.

Dott beat fellow former world champion Peter Ebdon in the other last four encounter but had nothing left to offer against Murphy in the end.

The Englishman grew in stature as the final progressed and the triumph never looked in doubt from a very early stage.

The 29 year-old finished the match off with the highest break of the tournament – a sublime 139 total clearance to wrap the event off in style.

With victory in Brazil, Murphy has now claimed titles in the South American nation, England, Malta, Germany, Belgium, China and Ireland as he stakes a claim to being one of the great travellers in the sport.

The PTC Grand Finals champion began the day as favourite and lived up to all expectations as he ousted two Scotsmen in fine style.

In the end, the tournament was a pretty decent success. The crowds began poorly but picked up as the week went on and, while they were not spectacular, it offered significant hope for a future for the game in Brazil in the future.

Of course, it will be equally important to learn the television viewing figures for the week in the coming days but, either way, it would be great to see the event return next year.

It is safe to say that the tournament in general has not been the most riveting of all time but that was never going to be the bigger picture.

It has marked the first professional snooker event to be held in an entire continent and that in itself is huge.

There is undoubtedly a market there to be tapped into but a lot of work has to be done to promote the sport in the coming years.

China and Germany both started out slowly when events were initially staged there but it is obvious to see the successes each of those countries have been nurtured into.

It would help if Brazil could produce a world-class player – much to the same ilk as a Tony Drago for Malta, James Wattana for Thailand or Ding Junhui for China – but sponsorship and funding will play a major role in that.

Nevertheless, the first ever Brazil Masters has been completed with a worthy winner in Shaun Murphy and hopefully there will be many more successful years to come.

The draw can be viewed by clicking here.