Shanghai Masters: Shaun Murphy beats Mark Allen to reach the final
Shaun Murphy reached his second final of the season as he beat Mark Allen 10-3 in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.
Good friends off the table, Murphy showed little mercy to Allen on it, producing a terrific display that saw him record nine breaks of 50+.
It was actually Allen who started the brighter, dominating the opening frame before Murphy won frame two on the colours having initially made a break of 51.
Murphy then added breaks of 88 and 82 to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval before Allen stopped the rot in frame five with a well-taken run of 74.
Murphy responded with a break of 74 of his own to reestablish his two frame advantage and then won two of the next three frames of the session to lead 6-3 at the break, a huge steal in frame eight proving a big turning point in the match after Allen had broken down on 61.
That body blow appeared to leave its mark on Allen and Murphy resumed in typically confident fashion, getting the evening session under way with a run of 64 before compiling a break of 80 a few minutes later to extend his lead to 8-3.
Another closely-contested frame in frame 12 again went the way of Murphy as he stepped in with a break of 61 to put himself within touching distance of victory and he finished the match in style, wrapping up proceedings with a fabulous century break (104).
Murphy will face either Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson in Sunday's final.
Semi-finals
Friday 13 September
- Shaun Murphy 10-3 Mark Allen
Saturday 14 September
- Ronnie O'Sullivan v Neil Robertson
Final
Sunday 15 September
- To be decided v To be decided
Related links
