World Snooker Championship 2023: Si Jiahui beats Shaun Murphy in final-frame thriller in first round

Si Jiahui won a thrilling final-frame decider against Shaun Murphy to reach the second round of the World Championship.

The momentum looked to be with Murphy as he roared back from 9-6 down to force a deciding frame.

But Crucible debutant Si, 20, showed composure beyond his years as he held his nerve and booked his place in the next round against Robert Milkins, who came back from 7-2 down to beat Joe Perry.

Si’s win over Murphy completes the second-round line-up at the World Championship.

But having won four of the last five frames in the previous session, Si came out firing again.

The 20-year-old knocked in a composed break of 121 to extend his advantage to 6-4.

Murphy saw a break stall in the next frame at 30-0 as he missed a pink to the middle. Si punished the error with a break of 93 to move further clear.

But Murphy hit back impressively as he showed some of the form that has seen him return to the top of the game this season.

The 2005 world champion made back-to-back breaks of 102 and 66 without Si potting a ball, to close to a frame behind at the mid-session interval.

But if Murphy had hopes of Si fading they were quickly dashed after the break as his opponent continued to show his quality by taking the frame and moving 8-6 ahead.

A missed long red from Murphy to start the 15th frame gave Si another opening – and he obliged to close on a famous win.

Murphy managed to end a run of 203 straight points against him as he got on the board in the 16th frame. He moved 48-0 ahead before winning a safety exchange to take the frame and keep his hopes alive.

Si then missed a black into the corner and Murphy managed to claw back another frame after building an advantage that left his opponent needing snookers.

The momentum now seemed to be with Murphy and he moved level at 9-9 with a brilliant break of 120.

But Si started the deciding frame in superb fashion, firing in a long red and making a break of 56. Murphy played a remarkable cannon shot to get on the board but at 57-34 behind got trapped in a snooker behind yellow and brown.

At the third attempt of getting out of it, Murphy left the red on and Si cleaned up to seal victory.

Mark Allen made six half-century breaks to open up a 5-3 lead over Stuart Bingham in their second-round match.

Allen moved 3-0 ahead before Bingham made a break of 134 and then won the next frame 87-79.

Allen responded by winning two of the next three frames to lead by two heading into the next session on Friday afternoon.

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