Murphy bemoans ‘worst two days’

Former champion Shaun Murphy bemoaned “the worst two days of my snooker years” after crashing out of the World Championship in a 10-4 defeat to Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.

Saengkham exploited a series of uncharacteristic errors from Murphy as he built on a 6-3 overnight advantage to become only the third Thai player to win a match in Crucible history.

Afterwards Murphy stressed his performance had not been affected by the recent sudden death of his former manager and mentor Brandon Parker.

Murphy told BBC Sport: “I was very much below par across the whole match, probably the worst two days of my snooker years came together at the worst possible time.

“My form has been good this season with two titles and other finals, so this was a shock to me.

“And I can say that the build-up to the tournament had no impact. I came here wanting to honour Brandon Parker’s memory.

“You dream of winning the title and dedicating it to him and things like that. But I would never dishonour him by saying that has caused me a problem.”

Mark Allen joined Murphy in suffering a first-round upset as he bowed out 10-8 to debutant Jamie Clarke.

The third seed led 5-4 overnight but qualifier Clarke turned it around in style to advance.

The Northern Irishman also fell at the first hurdle last year, losing 10-7 to China’s Zhou Yuelong.

Mark Selby avoided a similar fate but was far from his best as he laboured to a 10-6 win over qualifier Jordan Brown.

Resuming 5-4 in front after Monday’s opening session, the three-time champion extended his advantage to three frames with consecutive half-centuries.

A series of uncharacteristic errors allowed the Antrim 32-year-old to drag back to within one frame at 7-6 before Selby managed to battle his way over the line.

Qualifier Martin Gould fired four centuries and three more breaks over 50 on his way to establishing a 7-2 overnight lead against Scotland’s ninth seed Stephen Maguire.