Welsh Open 2022 - Shaun Murphy through to second round, Stephen Maguire’s poor form continues
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Updated 28/02/2022 at 13:23 GMT
Shaun Murphy is through to the second round of the Welsh Open after beating Andy Hicks 4-2, but Stephen Maguire’s bad form continued after losing 4-1 to Fergal O’Brien and defending champion Jordan Brown also fell at the first hurdle. Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Neil Robertson are among the other players starting their campaign in Newport on day one.
Shaun Murphy
Image credit: Getty Images
Shaun Murphy is through to the second round of the Welsh Open following a 4-2 victory over Andy Hicks, but Stephen Maguire remains without a win in 2022 after suffering another first round exit - losing 4-1 to Fergal O’Brien.
Reigning champion Jordan Brown fell at the first hurdle of his title defence, losing 4-3 to Mitchell Mann, while world number 14 Anthony McGill was knocked out by Zhang Anda.
Murphy was looking to respond positively after his first round defeat to Noppon Saengkham at the European Masters, and he made a good start, opening with a break of 70 to take the first frame.
But Hicks bounced back in the second with a break of 72 to level the match at 1-1, before he took the lead by taking the third frame 73-38.
Murphy bounced back strongly in the fourth, a break of 82 doing the damage to bring the score back to 2-2. Now he was in the mood and he fell four short of a century break to take control of the match in the fifth frame to go ahead for the second time in the game.
The world No. 10 wrapped up victory in the sixth, a break of 50 helping him secure a 4-2 win to advance into the next round.
Maguire went into his with O’Brien match on a bad run of form, having failed to win a match this year and he started poorly, dropping the opening frame 78-6, before he recovered to level at 1-1 with a break of 61.
But O’Brien took control of the match from there, securing successive breaks of 66 and 63 to go ahead - racking up 116 in the fourth frame to add to the pain.
Maguire needed to win the fifth to keep the match alive, but he only managed one point on the board, securing victory for the world number 74.
Brown became the lowest rated winner of a ranking event since 1983 when he won the title last year, but despite a century break in the third frame, he relinquished a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 to Mann.
McGill, who was also one frame away from victory in his match, relinquished his lead to lose 4-3 to Zhang.
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