World Snooker Championship 2021 LIVE – Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy locked in tense thriller

Ultimately, Shaun won that match this afternoon. He got far enough ahead so that he could have a bad patch and still sort it because a player as good as he is very rarely loses as many consecutive frames as he needed to. I actually think he'll have to play better than that to beat Wilson, who looks a tough match-up for him, but when he's hot he's ridiculous. As for Judd, his safety game is good, his potting is genius, his bottom level is high and he's unreal competitor, so it's unusual that his dominance isn't translating to the longer format. Two competitions are no kind of dataset, but if you'd told me after he won his first world title that he'd not make the final in either of the next two years, I'd have been surprised - I guess he just ran out of top form at the wrong time. Anyhow, he'll be back and so will we - at 1pm BST tomorrow, for Stuart Bingham v mark Selby.

He plays Kyren Wilson in the semis, and that is going to be a banger.

Shaun sends a sensational red up to the green pocket and nods to himself in a "Never in doubt Shaun me old son" kind of way. this is over!

Yes he is! He digs into the pack and releases a few more reds, then again, and I think he got to a point where he was paying so badly he just laughed and started playing well, the pressure released in the act. But then with 62 the lead and 67 on the table, he somehow winds up on nowt and with nothing easy on attacks a red sent long to the yellow pocket ... and misses! Judd can steal here! He plays a red to right corner, really badly ... No he can't! ....He's going out! It slides off the knuckle to the opposite middle and goes down! ... Yes he can! THIS GAME! There's one difficult red on the side cushion .... but Judd misses a different one! He's going out! The world number 1 is going out!

A decent safety from Shaun has Judd playing off two cushions. "It's a little heavy! It's a little heavy!" emotes Uncle Joe, and it offers an easy starter about the black spot! There's work to do, but Shaun is crafting with f&m in mind.

Judd takes on a long red and goes at it hard ... but he misses and leaves a nasty little one, white low on a red close to the semi-circle on the baulk line. Shaun eschews it, missing with an apparent treble. And then, badabing! Judd judds a long red at an oblique angle with power and feel and bronca. It earns him one.

Hold on to your hearts.

Now then! That wasn't a hard break in terms of where the balls were, but at this point, in this competition, in front of that crowd, for that player, it was nails. One more, and Shaun's in the semi.

I've no idea what's going on now, but I think Shaun was so grateful to receive what Judd gave him that he somehow calmed himself,and he plays a beautiful cannon that opens the table for him. Suddenly the strut is back, and he's putting the frame away!

As he's done all match, Shaun sees a long red and goes at it ... and after spinning around the jaws, it leaps for freedom, along the cushion and off the table. Not so fast, my child. It's soon back safe and sound, then Judd gets to work looking more relaxed ... not anymore! He misses a regulation black and hands the chance he crafted to Shaun!

Judd knows he can do it when it gets to here, and Shaun knows he once could. If he still can, we're in for a treat, but he needs to find some form from somewhere, because momentum is against him.

This is just the second half-century of the session, which tells you how these legends are feeling. It looks a lot like another ton too.

I guess when both players are struggling with pressure you expect the better player to win because his bottom level is higher. And that's looking likely to happen now, because brilliant though Shaun is, he's not as brilliant as Judd, who's recovery-potting his way level.

Uncle Joe wonders if either man can find some inspiration and the answer is yes, Judd Trump can. Funny that. He clips a red from above the pink to right corner but then just as he's settling in, he shudders one home that ought to have gone straight down and doesn't get on the black as a consequence. He has to play back to baulk off the green ... which provokes Shaun into a superb safety, an inch or two behind the yellow. Judd leaves one ... which Shaun pots, only to go in-off! This game! I'm not sure Judd's turning this gift away, and he's quickly potting balls.

Shaun almost yelps at the shot which hands Judd the frame, making it four out of five tonight. Judd isn't playing brilliantly, but he's holding it down better and that's the difference at the moment.

Forty-two the difference, 35 left when Shaun returns to the table. He might just want to get his arm going because he knows his game hasn't been there tonight.

Yup, Judd's found a bit of fluency, and I think we've a new favourite for the match.

It's brutal out there - and there's a crowd intensifying the situation - what a beautiful state of affairs. Shaun gets far too much on a cut to left corner and he's passed the chance on to Judd. The reds aren't perfect but you'd take them, a fair few in close proximity to the black, and after various recovery pots, yerman has eased into prime position.

Judd will have been satisfied with a 3-1 but that frame Shaun won will be nagging at him because it gives him little margin for error. Talking of which, the chaps swap poor pot-attempts - both have come out nice and relaxed, then - before both miss again, Shaun again getting closer than Judd. Finally, Shaun sees one down with the rest ... only to finish with a tricky safety awaiting him. He plays it well, taking the white to near the baulk cushion and covering a stray red with the green. And I'm feeling for them out there because Judd's just clipped the green trying to get to the red. I don't know what was in his mind there, and he's given Shaun a great chance.

This could be immense.

This is shaping up, eh? This whole competition and all. Shaun did very well to grab the penultimate frame of the mini-sesh because he's not played well tonight - the hot streak might be cooling - and if he doesn't win the one after the break, he's struggling. See you in 15.

Shaun returns to the table needing three snookers and blue, pink and black left. Good luck with that, my liege. He pots the blue, so now needs one snooker fewer but with one ball fewer to help him.

Shaun has a hack at a long one and when I say hack I mean hack. He leaves Judd a tight cut to middle ... tension! But it's bagged nicely and that'll be the frame.

Eesh! Judd accidentally develops the black and leaves a long cut ... Shaun sees it away, plays two further good shots, and suddenly the table looks nothing like as forbidding as before. He takes the rest to drive a straight one parallel with the rail - that's a great pot - and he has a blue to either disturb or get in behind the final red, on the opposite side cushion. As so often happens ... he misses the first shot. This absolute game.

This could be the match right here, and what a frame we're getting - reds everywhere but somewhere helpful, each ball its own little safety exchange. Judd gets the next one, adds a blue - he's building a handy lead given how difficult the table is and how few reds (five if em) are left - but that's end of break.

But removing one of the troublesome reds, he gets two kisses, the second of which makes the pink difficult. He's close to it, but it's a long way to the green pocket and he doesn't get that close to potting it. Shaun, though, can only add seven so we're back playing safety.

There are five reds, in a group of three and two, diagonally close to the left corner. Judd cracks into them without much apparent plan so Shaun's now eyeing up a plant involving two; it doesn't work, and clears a route for Judd to attack a different one ... which he creams right into the heart of the pocket. With five balls still on cushions - though near a pocket - it'll take something nifty to build a framewinning advantage at this visit. But he is a pretty nifty so you'd not be at all surprised.

He gets the next go though ... only to snooker himself behind a red with a different one blocking his route back to baulk. He nominates the green and misses it but hits the second time and leaves nothing, so we're back playing safety.

Both players take on reds, miss them by a way, and manage to leave nowt. But Judd's miss sends a red into baulk which might be important later in the frame. Shaun then leaves one close to the pocket but at an acute angle - Judd pokes it in and withdraws his cue quickly so that the white shoots down the table; in commentary, Uncle Joe notes that a confident him goes into the reds off that, and not doing so costs him, the break quickly running aground.

Might that be the key moment?! Shaun sees the balls away easily enough, except nothing's easy when the pressure is as absurd as it is, and Judd needs five of possible six.

It's Judd who cracks first, leaving it to the yellow pocket - just. He then takes the yellow, and again, and it's green to pink off their spots for a three-frame lead.

Judd's still not playing that well - his cue-ball control isn't where it needs to be or where it usually is - but he's potting his way out of things. Except for now, when he takes on a brutal red down the rail and sees it bounce out. Shaun drains it, but can't disturb the final red that's on the cushion, nor get in behind it, so he plays safe and, with the colours on their spots, this will probably be the ball that decides the frame. This is going to be an absolutely crucial passage, and you can sense the nerves through the screen. Lovely stuff.

But he can't add any more points - my SkyGo crashes so I'm not sure what happened - then Shaun jawses a plant and we're back playing safety. But he plays a good safety next that persuades Judd, tight on the baulk cushion, to catch one thick. On his way back down the table, he cannons the black, and this is a chance for Shaun, who quickly gets to work. It's a different session now though, and when he plays a poor positional shot that leaves him closer to the side than optimal, he finds jaws again. This afternoon, that drops, but that was then and this is now. Judd returns, and you'd expect him to sort things from here.

Shaun leaves a stray red up by the green pocket and Judd drains it, but he overcuts the blue on his way back up the table. Shaun, though, jawses his opener ... and leaves it! Unloading the suitcase at everything can only work for so long I guess, especially against one of the best ever to do it. Judd is playing much better tonight, and if he wins this frame too, he's probably favourite.

Yeah, Judd Trump. It's going his way now, and he finds a succession of tremendous pots to build his lead. Then he cannons the two side-cushion reds off the pink - the crowd love it, what a great sound that is - both of which he'll need. The first he taps long and acute into the green pocket, and the second he rams hard and straight into the yellow. He's quite good, I reckon. He winds up on nowt, so Shaun returns to the table 32 behind with justthe colours left.

But then off the blue, he leaves himself unnecessarily close to the cushion - yesterday afternoon, they were saying he's so good he doesn't care about stuff like that - but he does now, because he misses the next red and that hands Judd the table. It's not easy - there's a red in baulk, three clustered tight under the pink and two near the side - but of the two, you'd want to be him (before chasing balls around the table to no avail).

Shaun leaves one about halfway that Judd can take on as a shot to nowt - it wobbles in the jaws then forces its way down. But just as I'm thinking this looks ominous for Shaun, he runs out of position and has to play safe; that'll sting. There's nothing on, at least ... oh yes there is! Shaun clips a red that's central at the business end into the corner - that's an outrageous pot - then he cleanses the pack of the blue and it works beautifully. This is a bit like when Stan Wawrinka beat Nadal and Djokovic in the final of Slams - he just went for everything, and he's so good that when that works, he can destroy anyone.

Apparently Kyren Wilson got nae kip last night because the couple in the room next door were bang at it. Perhaps it's contagious, because he then came out this morning and reeled off five straight frames.

Shaun misses the final red so Judd pots a few more balls, and he's getting warm. Shaun, on the other hand, missed a few in that frame - the kind he wasn't missing this afternoon. Has the tide turned?

There's a red on black cush and one on the side too, and Judd finds himself straight on the brown when he needs to address one of them; he plays a fine shot to make that happen, screwing back up the table. I don't think I've seen a better recovery potter, and he runs out of position with Shaun needing a snooker.

For all the difference it makes! Judd glides home a long one to left corner like, well, Judd, and this is a frame-winning opportunity. If he can't take this chance, he's in all sorts.

If Shaun wins this frame it'll be very hard to see Judd - even Judd - coming back. It's not just the deficit, it's how much better than him Shaun's playing. But have a look! Shaun misses a red to middle, and though he doesn't appear to have left anything, perhaps Judd can find a telling safety ... and yep, the white is quickly deposited onto the bottom cushion. Problem being, Shaun then does likewise in return.

Here's a weird thing. In all sport - snooker being one of them - the longer the match the more you favour the better player. Judd, though, has been almost unbeatable over best of 7 and best of 9 for two years, but has struggled a bit at the Cruce. I'm not sure why either, because it's not like he's just a potter - his safety is really good too - so maybe it's just an anomaly. Anyway, Shaun shanks a long one and knocks balls about in the process so this is a chance for Judd, who sticks home an opener then plays a succession of poor positional shots, winding up leaving a red over left corner. That is a very bad sign, and Shaun will expect to capitalise, in by the black which goes to both pockets.

Are interfacing.

He won at the Cruce in 2005 - the last time a qualifier did that - reason being that when he's on, few are as natural as in the balls as he is. Losing in the way that he did last term - making an alright start against Noppon Saengkham then falling apart when a tight one went against him - will have stung, and he's not had a great season. But he's found himself this week, and the way the balls are slipping down the middle of the pockets bespeaks a player in nick. Bringing it home from here, though, will not be easy.

So the fabled "one table situation" starts a day early. Thanks to Mark Selby's brilliance in crushing Mark Williams, it's just Trump v Murphy this evening, and it could be very special indeed. Murphy leads 10-6, which is a whole mini-sesh's worth of frames - Trump will have to do something special to win, and of course he's more than capable of exactly that and then some. The winner plays Kyrizzle Wilson in the semis - he beat Trump at that stage last term.

That’s your lot for this dramatic session of snooker! We now know three of the four semi finalists after Ronnie O’Sullivan’s conqueror, Anthony McGill sees his hopes dashed in a decider v Stuart Bingham. Join us again at 19:00 BST for the conclusion of Trump v Murphy when we’ll find out who will face Kyren Wilson in one of the last four showdowns.

Shaun Murphy demonstrated some amazing sportsmanship during his World Snooker Championship quarter-final against Judd Trump. The 2005 world champion was locked in a safety battle near the start of the 14th frame against the world number one when a foul on a snooker in behind the green led to a re-spot.

As the referee attempted to judge exactly where to place the cue ball just outside the D, Murphy was overheard insisting to the official that the placement was actually unfairly easy for him. Instead of trying to get the best possible re-spot of the cue ball to enable him to get out of the tricky snooker, the 38-year-old attempted to make his life harder by asking for a more difficult re-spot.

Eurosport commentator Phil Yates explained: "What Murphy said there, if you didn't hear him, was 'It was a little more difficult than that'.

No repeat of the O’Sullivan heroics for McGill. It’s Bingham who will meet Mark Selby in the semi final as he claims victory with a sublime century clearance (125). Now that's a very special way to clinch it!

Ant McGill seems to love a decider. He rallies to level at 12-12 with Stuart Bingham. The winner of the next frame will book a spot in the semi finals.

Read Alex Livie's report of this afternoon's battle between Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump.

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