Snooker results: Shaun Murphy beaten again by Si Jiahui in Crucible shock

It was Si who had angered Murphy with his victory over the former world champion in the 2021 UK Championship, when the youngster was playing in the event as an amateur.

Murphy made headlines as he hit out at what he saw as an unfair defeat to "someone who shouldn't even be in the building", adding that Si played like "a man who does not have a care in the world" thanks to his amateur status.

Eyebrows were therefore raised when the pair were drawn to face each other this week, a draw which took place on BBC Radio 5 Live – with Murphy helping pick out the names.

"It was always going to happen, getting drawn against Si Jiahui – and I hadn’t been here myself live to witness it in the studio, I would have questioned it," said the 2005 champion.

"We played each other 18 months ago at the UK Championship and there was no controversy whatsoever! I didn’t make any outlandish comments at all, and there will be no dramas around this one!

"But seriously, all the journalists will be loving it, I can already hear the keyboards being smashed to pieces. Listen, thank god it’s in a week’s time and I don’t play until Wednesday.

"You never quite know what you will get from a debutant and how they will react to the Crucible, but I have obviously played him before and know for sure he is a very good player."

Now Murphy has his answer, as Si recovered from a sluggish start and then fended off a stirring fightback from the the form player on the circuit to triumph in a remarkable deciding frame.

Si, now playing as a professional and having come through qualifying to earn a place in the main draw, trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before reeling off four frames in succession as he established a narrow 5-4 lead heading into the second and final session.

Any hope Murphy had of his opponent suffering stage fright with the winning line looming was extinguished in a brilliant 120 break in the first frame on Thursday evening, which Si followed with a run of 93 before Murphy hit back to reduce his deficit to a single frame once more.

Coming out after the mid-session interval, Si bossed frame 14 and registered an 86 break before moving to within one of victory by capturing the next thanks to a pair of meaningful contributions.

Murphy needed to take the final four frames to get out of jail and got close to doing so, a fabulous century drawing him level at 9-9 and asking the sternest of questions of Si, who had seen his seemingly match-winning lead evaporate.

But Si found the answers, first potting a sensational long red before rolling in a tricky green to begin a break of 56 which was unfortunate to end, before Murphy spurned a good opportunity to land a dramatic counter-punch when he too ran out of position.

Si was then luckless again as his latest long red failed to leave him on a colour, but once more Murphy couldn't capitalise and now he was in major trouble as his young opponent laid a snooker when leading by 23 with just 35 points available.

Murphy missed three times, and after the last of them Si was presented with the simplest of reds to complete the upset in the last and most dramatic of first-round matches.

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