Wu Yize has started strongly in his World Snooker Championship final with Shaun Murphy, moving 10-7 ahead after the opening two sessions at the Crucible.
Any notion that Wu might suffer a hangover from his dramatic, late-night finish with Mark Allen on Saturday was soon dispelled as the 22-year-old again belied his inexperience to quickly establish a three-frame advantage, a cushion he still held at the end of the first day of the final.
Wu was the recipient of a stroke of good fortune in the second frame, Murphy looking sure to steal until visibly distracted from noise in the audience and missing a simple green with his usually-reliable rest.
To his credit, he then rallied brilliantly from 3-0 behind, putting together breaks of 85, 98, 77 and 109 to turn the early throws of the contest on its head, before Wu ensured the first eight frames were shared with a finishing run of 65.
Upon the resumption, Wu started as he had left off, confining Murphy to spectator status for much of the first hour or so of play, peeling off four of the first five frames of the evening with breaks of 82, 103 and 89.
Shaun Murphy sent the black FLYING into the pocket! ⚫💨
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Murphy continued to scrap away and managed to win two of the next three, but he was fighting for his very best form and was left to rue a wayward positional shot in the final frame of the night, frame 17.
The 2005 champion was on course to close within a single frame until breaking down on 39 and opening the door for Wu to counter, something the Chinese did in ruthless fashion to end the day firmly in control of his maiden world final.
The match resumes at 1pm on Monday.
