Shaun Murphy beats Michael White to reach Champion of Champions semi-finals
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ByEurosport
Updated 07/11/2017 at 23:08 GMT
Shaun Murphy showed his class to overcome Michael White 6-4 in the Group Two final at the Champion of Champions in Coventry.
Shaun Murphy during the first round
Image credit: Reuters
White had booked his place in the Group Two final at the Champion of Champions event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry with a 4-3 win over Marco Fu with Murphy overcoming Mark King 4-2 boosted by breaks of 78, 50 and 69.
2005 world champion Murphy dropped the first frame to White, but hit back strongly to reach Saturday night's semi-final with breaks of 123, 121, 101, 93 and 78.
White was hardly disgraced in fighting back from 3-1 behind to level at 4-4, but his opponent's heavier scoring power was a key factor in the outcome.
The Welsh world number 27 kept his composure superbly to make a closing break of 102 in progressing past Fu.
White - winner of the Paul Hunter Classic - started well against Fu as he opened with breaks of 70 and 60 in the first two frames. Fu restored parity at 2-2 courtesy of breaks of 91 and 77 before White edged a nervy fifth frame that lasted almost 40 minutes for a 3-2 lead.
A sparkling century of 100 was enough for world number eight and Scottish Open winner Fu to force the decider, but White had the final say with a glorious ton of his own to complete victory from a high-quality encounter.
The Champion of Champions is an invitational event contested between the winners of the season's major tournaments over the past year starting from world champion Mark Selby's victory at the UK Championship last December.
Defending champion John Higgins begins his campaign on Thursday against fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill in a Group Four that also contains Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson.
Selby - fresh from winning the International Championship with a 10-7 victory over Mark Allen - meets Liang Wenbo on Wednesday with Judd Trump facing Luca Brecel in the other group match.
Champion of Champions results/schedule
Group Two results (Tuesday November 7)
- Semi-finals
- Marco Fu 3-4 Michael White
- Shaun Murphy 4-2 Mark King
- Final (best of 11 frames)
- Michael White 4-6 Shaun Murphy
Group One results (Monday November 8)
- Semi-finals
- Ding Junhui 2-4 Anthony Hamilton
- Barry Hawkins 2-4 Ryan Day
- Final
- Anthony Hamilton 6-4 Ryan Day
Group Three fixtures (Wednesday November 8)
- Semi-finals
- Mark Selby v Liang Wenbo
- Judd Trump v Luca Brecel
- Final
- Selby/Wenbo v Trump/Brecel
Group Four fixtures (Thursday November 9)
- Semi-finals
- Ronnie O'Sullivan v Neil Robertson
- John Higgins v Anthony McGill
- Final
- O'Sullivan/Robertson v Higgins/McGill
Semi-finals (best of 11 frames)
- Friday November 10
- Anthony Hamilton v Winner of Group Four
- Saturday November 11
- Shaun Murphy v Winner of Group Three
- Final (best of 19 frames)
- Sunday November 12
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