Shaun Murphy reached the last 16 of the 2026 Shenzhen Open with a comprehensive 5-1 defeat of Hossein Vafaei on Wednesday.
The Magician lost the opening frame to a break of 70 from his opponent but then reeled off breaks of 132, 76, 64, 78, and 112 to power his way through.
Murphy hasn’t won a ranking event in over a year, but he has represented one of the most consistent forces in the game during that period.
Since lifting the British Open trophy at the end of last September, Murphy has regularly been at the business end of big tournaments.
That, of course, included his memorable run to the World Championship final in May where he was narrowly pipped to glory in an 18-17 thriller by Wu Yize.
“I’m really pleased with my game,” Shaun Murphy, a semi-finalist at the recent English Open, told the World Snooker Tour.
“But I’ve been pleased with my game for a long time now. I’ve been playing really well for, jeez, maybe two or three seasons.”
“I hold myself to very high standards. At the minute, I’m playing really good snooker. It’s nice to know that your game is there.
“I’ve done a lot of work on my game at home in between events. People don’t see that. People don’t understand and see how we’re trying to work the conditions out.
“Obviously the tables play totally different here in Shenzhen than they do up in the north of China, maybe in Beijing.
“And they play totally differently to the ones in the UK, so I know it looks the same on TV, but it’s not. They all perform slightly differently.
“It’s up to us as the experts to try and work out how that ball is working, how it’s spinning. If you control that and adapt to it, then you can play good snooker.”
Murphy is among a few marquee names to have already reached the last 16, with the likes of Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, and Kyren Wilson also safely through.
But there have been plenty of big-name casualties in the Shenzhen Open so far, including early defeats for Zhao Xintong, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams, and John Higgins.
That potentially opens the door for a more likely charge to the latter stages, but Murphy claims that he isn’t one to pay much attention to the layout of the draw.
Instead, combating loneliness on the long stays away from home is more important.
“I think everyone is aware of other big rivals and other big potential winners going home. You know, they are already on the plane home.”
“[But] for me personally, I’m not somebody who looks at draws. I couldn’t tell you who I’m playing next, for instance. I’ve got no idea.
“I didn’t know I was playing Hossein until my fiancée told me in the hotel yesterday. It’s not something I get into.
“Other people study draws and formats they know of, but I’m not into that. I’d actually prefer I didn’t know, I just met you at the table, and we got on and played our game.”
“I’ve been coming to China since 1999 or 2000 when I came out for the World Amateur Championship, and it’s changed so much.
“One of the things that hasn’t changed much, though, is that travelling is lonely. To do everything on your own is very, very difficult. I’ve tried it. I don’t like it.
“So to have my fiancée here, we’re travelling together, doing these things together, creating these memories, as well as trying to play good snooker and take some trophies home, is fantastic.”
Next up for Murphy will be either Barry Hawkins or Elliot Slessor.
Others who have progressed unscathed to the last 16 are Stephen Maguire, Jimmy Robertson, Zak Surety, and Scott Donaldson – the latter having beaten Pang Junxu on the final black.
The remaining round-of-32 fixtures take place on Wednesday with world champion Wu Yize and China Open winner Mark Selby among those playing again.
2026 Shenzhen Open
Round of 32 (bo9)
Fan Zhengyi vs Yuan Sijun
Jiang Jun 3-5 Zak Surety
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Michael Holt
David Gilbert 2-5 Kyren Wilson
Scott Donaldson 5-4 Pang Junxu
Ben Mertens 1-5 Jimmy Robertson
Stuart Bingham vs Chris Wakelin
Lei Peifan 1-5 Neil Robertson
Judd Trump w/o Anthony McGill
Si Jiahui vs Gary Wilson
Jackson Page vs Mark Selby
Stephen Maguire 5-1 David Grace
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Hossein Vafaei
Barry Hawkins vs Elliot Slessor
Ali Carter vs Ricky Walden
Xu Si vs Wu Yize
Featured photo credit: Depositphotos.com
>a comprehensive 5-1 defeat of Hossein Vafaei
So much for my suggestion that this matchup was one of the more interesting in the next round, even a potential upset (obviously Murphy would’ve been favored) — to me Vafaei (who won the Shootout in 2022, beating Mark Williams in the final) and Lisowski are similar in that when they play well, their level is high enough that both can beat top players — but they just don’t play well often enough.
Murphy’s resurgence over the last several seasons has been one of the more enjoyable things about the WST — whenever he’s in the draw, I’ve come to expect to see him in the later rounds.