MURPHY STAYS STRONG TO END DAVIES CHALLENGE
09/12/2007 15:41:00

Provisional world No 1 Shaun Murphy continued his run of form with a 9-5 defeat of Paul Davies in the Maplin UK Championship.
Cardiff's Davies, ranked 62nd, battled all the way against former World Champion Murphy, sharing the first eight frames.

The Welshman still looked in with a chance at 7-5, but Murphy won the crucial 13th frame on his way to the second round. It's only the second time in Murphy's career that he has reached the last 16 of this tournament, and he has never been to the quarter-finals. He will face Stuart Bingham or Steve Davis next.

Rotherham-based Murphy has reached the semi-finals of two of the season's first three ranking events, losing 6-5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire. The Malta Cup champion's consistency over the past season has seen him climb to the top of the provisional rankings for the first time in his career.

Murphy won the first three frames today with a top break of 89. Davies closed to 7-5 and was among the balls in the next but got a kick on the penultimate red on a run of 47, potting it but running out of position.
After a safety exchange, Murphy potted the last red and cleared for 8-5. He soon added the next with an 89.

"Paul has been around for a while and he's a good, gritty match-player,"
said 25-year-old Murphy. "Some people probably thought I would walk this match but I knew it wouldn't be easy. Frame 13 was very important, Paul was unlucky to get a kick and that cost him.

"I've lost in the last two semi-finals, and some friends at my snooker club have been joking that I shouldn't bother to book a hotel for the whole week here, only until the Saturday. It would be nice to go further but I'm just happy to have won today.

"I love this venue and I've got good memories of it because I won four matches here in the World Championship qualifiers in 2002 - that was the first time I qualified for Crucible."

The 2005 UK Champion Ding Junhui completed a 9-3 victory over local favourite Adrian Gunnell.

Leading 6-2 overnight, Ding made short work of getting over the line but has yet to hit top gear. "I felt a lot of pressure in the arena, it was a bit intense and I was missing a lot of balls," admitted the 20-year-old.

Ding has fond memories of his victory from two years ago, "I really enjoyed it, a lot of friends came to watch me in York." He didn't scale the heights of the first session when he compiled a tournament high 143 but he is through to play Nigel Bond.

Last season's double winner Neil Robertson is all square with Joe Perry after their opening session. Robertson had raced into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 55 and a 111. The Cambridgeshire cueman turned the tables and levelled with runs of 50, 73 and 61. They will resume in the morning for a place in the second round.

In the morning's other match Essex's Mark King holds a two frame advantage over Stephen Lee. King had led 4-1 but Lee pulled back the next two with runs of 68 and 66 before King took the last frame of the session.