Shaun Murphy powers into semi-finals of Welsh Open with victory over Yuan Sijun in Llandudno

Shaun Murphy’s brilliant run at the Welsh Open continued with a 5-0 victory over Yuan Sijun in the quarter-finals.

He is battling to end a barren run dating back to the Welsh Open of 2020 and after showing signs of life this season has struck form with a vengeance in Llandudno this week.

He could have been forgiven for suffering an adrenaline hangover from such a performance, but he produced polished rather than jaw-dropping snooker to reach the semi-finals at Venue Cymru.

Yuan got in during the opener but missed a routine red when on 43 and Murphy stepped in to clear to the pink to draw first blood

Murphy chipped a red out off the break in the second and Yuan stroked in a red but did not get the split of the pack and broke down on 25.

For as well as Yuan pots, his safety play requires work and he paid a price for allowing Murphy to get his hand on the table as the 2005 world champion crunched in a long red and ran through a break of 81 to double his lead.

Murphy fashioned a chance in the third and he knocked in a second successive break of 81 to increase his lead to three frames.

As in the second frame, Murphy chipped a red out off the break in the fourth and Yuan stroked it in. But he missed a black off its spot on 27. The youngster got in again and crafted what looked like a frame-winning contribution.

Yuan left the table with Murphy requiring three snookers, and for a moment it looked like he would concede and head to the interval with a 3-1 lead.

Instead he played on, picked off reds before laying a fiendish snooker on the final red. What followed was a masterclass from Murphy as he tied his opponent in knots to secure the snookers he required before clearing to leave Yuan in a state of disbelief.

Going 4-0 down in a race to five tends to prove fatal at the elite level, and so it proved for Yuan as Murphy returned after the mid-session interval to secure the win.

The fireworks of the previous day’s win over Wells were not on show, but breaks of 45 and 21 wrapped up a thoroughly professional win and a meeting with either Joe O’Connor or Pang Junxu in the semi-finals, the 48th of his career in ranking events.

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