Shaun Murphy and Matthew Stevens crash out of 2012 China Open – Snooker News
One of the most thrilling major ranking events of snooker, the 2012 China Open is underway at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium in Beijing where top dogs of the game are battling to hit the ultimate glory. However, the tournament has witnessed a
couple of major upsets so far where mere youngsters from China have beaten the legends quite easily.
The spectators present at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium arena were shocked when they saw the former World Snooker Champion and one of the toughest opponents in the history of the game, England’s Shaun Murphy tumbling down in the first round at
the hands of a Chinese young snooker star, Lu Ning by the score line of 2-5.
The young Chinese breezed into 2-0 early lead to put pressure on the former champ. Before he could add more frames to his side of the score board and nudge his opponent down, the Englishman bounced back into the game and clinched back-to-back frame wins
to pull level at 2-2 firing a classy knock of 62 in the fourth frame to finish the first session of the game.
The second session of the match was totally dominated by the 18-year-old Ning as he fired some impressive shots to compile two outstanding breaks of 114 and 119 to move within two frame lead at 2-4. The seventh frame proved to be the last one of the clash
as the Chinese took it quite easily to hit the jackpot and made his way into the second round of the tournament.
On the other hand, Wales’ Matthew Stevens, who was considered to be a trouble for the top dogs of the event, was not able to play up to the expectations of his fans and crashed out of the tournament at the hands of the former World Snooker Champion, England’s
Peter Ebdon in his first round clash by an easy score line of 5-3. Stevens had no chances to create hurdles for Ebdon and lost the game easily.
The former champ, Ebdon, fired some classy knocks of 72, 104 and 86 to push his opponent down by two frames at 5-3. Stevens, on the other hand, could pocket only two major breaks of 127 and 62. Ebdon will next meet the reigning World Snooker Champion, Scotland’s
John Higgins in the second round.
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