O’Sullivan resists Murphy charge to preserve lead

Ronnie O’Sullivan resisted a Shaun Murphy charge to preserve his fourframe lead in their gripping Betfred World Championship battle.

From 9-3 adrift and in danger of losing the second-round clash with a session to spare, Murphy charged back by taking the next three frames and had O’Sullivan rattled.

But when 2005 champion Murphy missed an all-important green in the final frame of the session, O’Sullivan pounced to clear and lead 10-6 overnight, a distinctly healthier position than he must have been beginning to fear.

The 34-year-old began 6-2 adrift yesterday afternoon and made an ideal start with a break of 70 before O’Sullivan responded with 63 and 75 to stretch his lead to five frames.

The prospect of victory a session early was occupying many minds at the interval, but Murphy showed his focus remained true.

He avoided the possibly ignominy when he ran in a break of 84 and followed up with 73 to trim his deficit to four frames.

Murphy was suddenly on a roll, and an 87 followed, setting up the final frame of the session as possibly pivotal in the context of the match.

Had O’Sullivan’s lead been sliced to two frames, the pressure would have been loaded on him going into the deciding stages, and that was how it looked when Murphy fluked the yellow.

He had a simple green with the rest but missed. In went the five remaining colours and O’Sullivan could breathe again.

Picture: Getty. Ronnie O’Sullivan reacts after playing a shot yesterday.