‘I felt like Neo from the Matrix’ – Shaun Murphy blown away by 147 and 145 breaks in win over Daniel Wells at Welsh Open

Shaun Murphy felt he had cracked the code and was “like Neo from the Matrix” during a purple patch in his win over Daniel Wells at the Welsh Open.

He wrestled the high break from David Gilbert in the second frame thanks to a 145, but that was a mere hors d’oeuvres for the main course of a maximum 147 that followed one frame later.

It was near-perfect snooker as Murphy only lost position on one occasion in his 36 pots.

He recovered from losing the cue ball a shade from blue to pink to stroke it into left middle, and one ball later the roof was raised as the black dropped into the bottom right for a stunning maximum.

Assessing how he felt during that remarkable 20-minute period, Murphy said: “Very briefly, I felt like Neo from the Matrix. I was seeing green lines everywhere.

“That’s what the hours of practice are for, to get in when that happens and try to keep it going.

“The flipside of that is in the next frame I had a chance to put the match to bed and messed it up, so it does not last forever.

“It’s just your alignment clicks, your sighting clicks, your striking clicks and all the balls go in. Sometimes it is easy, but most of the time it is really hard.”

The Welsh Open holds fond memories for Murphy, as it was the last time he got his hands on a title in 2020.

That win in Cardiff came a matter of weeks before the world ground to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lockdown was hard on Murphy, as was the resumption of the sport due to him having to spend large portions of time away from his family in Ireland as snooker took place in a secure bubble in Milton Keynes.

He says his perspective on life changed, and is hopeful his career is back on the up.

“It was the last time I took any trophy home,” Murphy said in the Eurosport studio. “That trophy is sitting proudly in the Stephens Green Club in Dublin where I practice. It would be lovely to add something else to it.”

Reflecting on pictures of him lifting the trophy in 2020, Murphy said: “Haven’t we all been through so much in those three years?

“It was only a few weeks after those pictures that something called a pandemic struck and we all became virologists and experts in illnesses.

“What a few years it has been since then, and my perspectives have changed in those years.

“I have learned to take the rough with the smooth.”

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