Shaun Murphy bemoaned his luck as he bowed out of the 2026 Tour Championship on Wednesday following a dramatic 10-9 loss to Judd Trump.
The Magician was one of the tournament’s top four seeds, therefore benefiting from a bye straight through to the last eight in Manchester.
But facing the world number one in his opening game couldn’t have provided him with a much tougher test.
Despite pushing Trump all the way, Murphy broke down when given the opportunity to snatch a semi-final spot in the deciding frame and was ultimately left to rue a missed double that gifted his opponent the chance to win instead.
“I think I would have won against pretty much anybody else,” said Murphy, who compiled a brace of tons and seven other 50-plus contributions.
“He’s not the world number one by mistake. He just seems to have that extra round in him, that extra bit of resilience.”
“I’ve been playing this game for a long time, and we’re all trying to find little bits of improvement here and there.
“But Lady Luck plays such a big part in snooker, in a way in which he doesn’t in other sports. The much-missed John Virgo used to say ‘the things that can happen on a snooker table, it’s only 12-foot by 6.’
“Of course, the double that I went for in the deciding frame, I really just fancied it. It really set up well, and it was a shot-to-nothing – I wasn’t leaving anything [else].
“The red could have gone anywhere, and it didn’t have to go over the corner pocket. But it did.”
Murphy has had a consistent season and undoubtedly represents one of the best performers of the entire campaign, but he has suffered from some painful defeats.
There have been heavy losses in the finals of both the Xi’an Grand Prix and the German Masters, the latter where he endured a 10-4 reverse to Trump in Berlin.
The 2005 world champion has also felt that he has been unfortunate to repeatedly face challenges from players who have persistently produced close to their A-game to beat him.
“I got closer to Judd than the last time we played over 19 frames,” Murphy continued on 5. “But it feels like a lot of effort for nothing.”
“It’s just the way it goes I suppose, with the rankings and the seedings. You play all season to get your reward, but it didn’t feel like a reward playing Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, if I’m totally honest.
“But that’s the way the one-year list goes. It’s a real test and a real marker going against the world number one just before the World Championship. I don’t think I was that far away.”
Trump, meanwhile, won a deciding frame for the first time this season having lost his last eight games that had gone to a final frame.
The 36 year-old, who edged Mark Allen 10-8 in the first round, is through to the semi-finals of the Tour Championship for the first time since 2020 as he continues his bid to claim the title for the first time in his career.
“It’s not been amazing. I’ve been scoring okay,” Trump said on 5. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
“I think you need to improve as the tournament goes on. I’ve not played my best, but if I can find something in my long potting.”
“I need to practice that. I keep hitting the wrong side of the ball, and I don’t know why. But if I can improve on that, I’ll have a good chance.”
Elsewhere, top seed Neil Robertson and world champion Zhao Xintong established 5-3 overnight advantages over Barry Hawkins and Chris Wakelin respectively.
Those two fixtures will conclude on Thursday with the repeat of last year’s final between John Higgins and Mark Selby also on the day-four agenda.
Featured photo credit: WST
I don’t think it’s an amazing slice of misfortune when you leave the ball you’ve attempted to pot off a double.
Selby leads Higgins 22-19 across all meetings and 8-4 in last eight clashes. Their first meetings were in successive years (2005-2007) at the Crucible.
Shaun Murphy when are you ever going to grow up. The world is not out to get you. I like your play but all most every time you lose, it is someone else fault. Way back in the 70’s my mom would say “quit your whining”! You could have potted the yellow but you chose to play the shot you made. Trump’s form is off and still won, all he needed was the mental fortitude to make sure he only played safeties until you made a mistake. Your frame breaks were described by the commentators as “something you see on the weekend with a couple of friends at the local pool hall”. Finally, please please if you want to stop any sort of bullying, always wear dark pants; preferably waistcoats as well and never go back to the tailor who made that grey pants. It looked like you were giving yourself a wedgie. You will bounce back…..that is all you should be saying because that is the truth.
This is certainly becoming a “never say die” tournament with comebacks , close scores and never ending frames. Neil Robertson overcame a 7-5 deficit to edge out Barry Hawkins 10-8. That is the fourth 10-8 score from just six matches. Not to mention the 10-9 score as well. Zhao Xintong is up 8-4 against Chris Wakelin; to be continued tomorrow. It looks as though John Higgins had run out of steam as Mark Selby won the last four frames taking a 7-5 lead into tomorrow’s continuation. Dave, I do not know if I am converting into a purist but I totally enjoyed their over 1 hour frame as both players were spectacular with their snookers and getting out of snookers. During the breaks, the pundits all agreed that they have not seen John Higgins pot like he was today in years.
On the downside I was disappointed that when Higgins was asked about Mark Selby, his own play, he said “it doesn’t matter what fans think, I only care what my peers have to say”. I think sports should get rid of pundits like Wayne Rooney (football), Steven Hendry and now John Higgins from having their piss poor attitudes ruin the fans atmosphere. The only truly qualified people on the set are the host, the introduction announcer and the cameramen.
Correction as of 9:20 ( 7 hours and counting) and Selby and Higgy are back at the table. I don’t have 5Sports.