Murphy holds off Carter fightback to reach quarters as Higgins and Mcgill slug it out
Shaun Murphy held off a fightback from Ali Carter to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Dafabet Masters.
Murphy, the 2015 winner, raced into a 4-0 lead in the best of 11 first-round encounter at Alexandra Palace.
The former world champion rattled in a break of 119 in frame three and looked on course for a smooth passage at the mid-session interval.
However, Carter came out of the blocks when they returned with breaks of 99 and 117 to cut the deficit to two.
Murphy took the seventh but a mistake allowed Carter to nick the eighth and the 38-year-old then moved to within one frame.
However, Murphy held his nerve in the 10th to secure a 6-4 victory and a last-eight meeting with Judd Trump. “I didn’t think I was bottling it, but I had my chances to win it at 5-2 and 5-3 and didn’t take them,” Murphy told the BBC.
“If I had lost I would only have had myself to blame. I actually thought he played better than me today. It should have been closer after the first session and he won the second session.”
John Higgins and fellow Scot Anthony Mcgill were locked in an intense battle last night, as the pair scrapped it out for a place in the quarter-finals.
Wishaw’s Higgins, bidding to become Masters champion for the third time, 19 years after he first lifted the trophy, took an early 2-0 lead. But a spirited Mcgill proved to be a thorn in his side and took the next two frames to level the match.
Higgins had wasted a golden chance to win the third frame and take firm control of the match when he twice missed while in the balls. Mcgill capitalised when Higgins missed again to win the 38-minute frame. The 26-year-old Glaswegian appeared revitalised and drew level with a fine break of 122. With momentum behind him, Mcgill grew in confidence and won the next two frames after the break to move 4-2 ahead in the bestof-11 match.
But Higgins won the next three frames to edge 5-4 ahead.