Underdog Murphy is happy to prove the bookies wrong

SHAUN MURPHY has been in snooker long enough to know that the bookies don’t always get it right.

The Magician became the fifth underdog in a row to prevail in the first round at the Masters, after he put in a gritty display to beat favourite Judd Trump 6-3 at Alexandra Palace in London yesterday.

And for the 2015 champion, the victory merely underlines the knife-edge competitiveness in the upper echelons of the game today.

“None of the favourites have won yet, so it shows what the bookies know,” he said.

“It’s not an exact science this sport. Just because you’re ranked high and have accumulated more money over the past two years, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to win the match.

“We all know that on the tour. Maybe what’s happened this week so far will spur the punters to look a bit deeper.”

With Trump making three centuries from the opening five frames to lead 3-2, most would have backed the reigning World and Masters champion to prevail, but Murphy, who himself won the World title at the Crucible back in 2005, capitalised on a handful of uncharacteristic errors to clean up.

He won four frames on the spin from that point on, including a fabulous 41 break in the eighth to move himself within one of victory.

And Trump admits that, after his rapid-fire start, he was left scratching his head when contemplating the final result.

“It’s quite a hard game to evaluate really,” he said.

“I was the better player most of the game, he was just making the important clearances. It was a strange game, I didn’t feel like I played that badly.

“There were a few bad cannons at times, but I can’t really work out how it was 6-3.

“It wasn’t that many missed balls, just a couple of bad safeties. He was just getting away with one or two more than me.”

In the evening’s match, twotime champion John Higgins beat Barry Hawkins in emphatic style as he became the first favourite through to the quarter-finals.

A dominant 6-1 display sets up a quarter-final against Ali Carter for the Wizard of Wishaw.

And after the match he urged caution ahead of his last-eight clash against Carter.

“You have to tighten up because Ali was hitting the ball really well against Mark Selby,” he said.

“And I think someone like Ali is like Denmark when they got the late call-up for the Euros!

“He’s got a late call-up and is on a free-roll in a way, so that can make him very dangerous.

“He’s already accounted for one of the best players in the world in Mark Selby, and will be fancying he can win it as well.”

Today’s Kyren Wilson plays Jack Lisowski in the afternoon, with Mark Williams takes on Stuart Bingham tonight

Watch the London Masters LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.