Shaun Murphy versus Marcus Campbell – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
Shaun Murphy and Marcus Campbell are set to meet in the first round of 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is going to be staged from 16 April to 3 May, at the Crucible
Theatre, Sheffield, England.
Both players have met only two times before in any professional tournament. Their first meeting was in 2005 in the last-64 round of the World Championship, at Pontin’s and then it was
in the fourth round of the EPTC5 event this season. Both of these matches were won by the Magician, Murphy, with frame scores of 10-3 and 4-2 respectively. So in their overall head-to-head
record Murphy leads Campbell by 2-0.
As far as their Crucible history is concerned, the world number seven, Shaun Murphy, has appeared eight times before; in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and this is going
to be his ninth time. Moreover he also lifted the World Championship trophy in 2005 and later on reached the final in the 2009 World Championship before losing out to John Higgins by a frame score of 18-9.
Meanwhile the world number thirty-two, Marcus Campbell, has participated two times before; in 2001 and 2010, so this will be his third appearance. However the thirty-eight-year-old, Campbell,
has not been able to break his duck as of yet, as he lost both time in the last-32. So arguably it can be said that Murphy’s credentials of playing at the home of snooker are far better than Campbell.
The 28-year-old, Murphy, has also had a very sound season. He started this season in a straight forward by topping the PTC Order of Merit. He was also consistent in the following EPTC2
and EPTC5 events, as he was a winner and a runner-up in these both respectively. Though he suffered some early exits at the Shanghai Masters and World Open, he made it to the finals of the Premier League. He also performed well in the UK Champion, where he
shrugged-off Patrick Wallace, Ryan Day and Neil Robertson to reach the semi-final which he eventually lost to Mark Williams.
Though disappointing results came at the Masters, German Masters and Welsh Open tournament, he bounced back into the game and won the PTC Grand Finals. The Englishman, Murphy, was also
the runner-up in the Championship League and a semi-finalist in the China Open.
For the Dumbarton Destroyer, Campbell, it has been also a good start this year. This season the Scot won his first professional title, the EPTC3 title in Russelsheim, due to which he secured
his place in the top-32. However in other major ranking events his performances have been mixed. He lost in the opening qualifying rounds on three occasions but on the same note he made it to the last-16 in the World Open and China Open. Another strong performance
from him came in the final qualifying round of this year’s World Championship, as he impressively beat Matt Selt by a frame score of 10-6.
Keeping all the facts and figures in mind, it is fair to say that Shaun Murphy will be a heavy favourite for the match, though Campbell is playing some fine snooker.
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