Shaun Murphy wins stunning Rundili Wuxi Classic final
Shaun Murphy beat Ding Junhui 9-8 after staging a tremendous fight back to win the World Snooker Rundili Classic yesterday in China.
Ding, playing in his home town Wuxi, had led Murphy 8-2, but the 2005 world champion won the last seven frames to claim his first professional title of the 2009/10 season.
Crowd favourite Ding stormed into a 5-1 lead, compiling breaks of 63, 67 and 62, but Murphy managed to peg the reigning UK champion back by making a 101 break.
But Ding put his foot on the gas and looked to be cruising as he raced into an 8-2 lead by taking the next three frames, making a 75 break on the way.
Murphy did not give in, and began the comeback, knocking in breaks of 78, 92, 59, 58, 96 and 86. He kept Ding off the table, only reducing him to 14 points in seven frames.
“It's got to be one of my best ever wins, maybe not the best, but in the top three. Even at 8-2 down I never stopped believing that I could win. When I got to the interval at 8-4 things were looking up, and from that point the scoreboard just got better and better for me.
"Ding played well, and it wasn't as if he lost it. There was one scrappy frame out of the last seven which I managed to nick, and I won all of the others well. It's always nice to start the season with a win and hopefully I can take this form into the next event. I said at the Crucible that I had been practicing very hard and eventually it would pay off,” said Murphy.
The new snooker season has started with a bang.
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