German Masters snooker: Shaun Murphy secures Berlin spot, Mark Selby opens with win

ByEurosport

Updated 24/10/2021 at 22:17 GMT

Shaun Murphy resisted a spirited effort from Cao Yupeng to complete a 5-4 win in the last 64 of the German Masters while world champion Mark Selby hit a break of 134 in a 5-2 victory over Ross Muir in the first round of qualifying in Cannock. The last 32 qualify for the final stages of the German Masters, with the Tempodrom in Berlin staging the tournament between 26-30 January 2022.

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Shaun Murphy edged out former Scottish Open finalist Cao Yupeng 5-4 to qualify for the German Masters in Berlin while world champion Mark Selby opened his campaign with a 5-2 win over Ross Muir on Sunday.

Cao hit a break of 88 in the second frame before 2005 world champion Murphy ran in knocks of 56, 118 and 102 on his way to a 3-2 lead only for the world number 85 to produce a sparkling 128 to level at 3-3.

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Murphy moved 4-3 clear with a fine 75, but Cao forced the deciding frame and had two obvious chances before three-times German Masters semi-finalist Murphy managed to claim it by clearing from the final red to secure his spot in the last 32 at Berlin's Tempodrom in January.

Selby did not have to sweat over his progress to the last 64 as he split the first four frames with Scotsman Muir before winning the final three to secure a meeting with Ashley Carty in the last 64 on Monday. Carty overcame Sean Maddocks 5-2 in his opener.

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Jak Jones made breaks of 108 and 103 but lost 5-4 to Noppon Saengkham in the last 64 as the Thai player followed up his 5-2 win over John Higgins on Saturday with closing breaks of 105 and 65 seeing him book his flight to Germany in January.

Six-times world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan begins his campaign against Hossein Vafaei on Monday night.

The last 32 qualify for the final stages of the German Masters, with the Tempodrom in Berlin staging the tournament between 26-30 January 2022, which you can stream live and on demand on discovery+, the Eurosport app and eurosport.com.