Murphy grafts to opening Indian victory

Shaun Murphy was made to work for his place in the first round proper of the Indian Open.

Facing home player Pandurangaiah in the wild card round yesterday, the world number five from Essex toiled to a 4-2 win in which he lost the opening frame and did not record a half-century break until a 66 in the last.

Scotland’s Alan McManus and Anthony McGill were among the other players to come through the preliminary stage, the latter with breaks of 76, 65 and 94 in a 4-0 dismissal of home favourite and former finalist Aditya Mehta.

In round one, world number 32 Tom Ford was surprisingly beaten 4-3 by China’s Tian Pengfei, whose compatriot Xu Si inflicted a 4-0 whitewash on Robin Hull.

Glasgow’s former world champion Graeme Dott enjoyed an impressive 4-1 win over the highly regarded Jack Lisowski and Joe Perry beat Daniel Wells by the same scoreline while Ricky Walden, down at number 24 in the world rankings, recovered from 3-1 down to beat Alfie Burden helped by breaks of 72 and 78.

The in-form Ken Doherty beat John Astley with a 62 break in the deciding frame while Matthew Selt, Mark Davis and Fergal O’Brien were among the day’s other winners.

Alan McManus