Shaun Murphy back to winning ways in Championship League

Shaun Murphy began rebuilding from his shock Crucible exit as he claimed the first ranking title of the new snooker season with victory in the Championship League in Leicester.

The 40-year-old swept aside fellow veteran Mark Williams 3-0 in the final having earlier topped his round-robin Group A above Chris Wakelin, Robert Milkins and Xiao Guodong.

Victory in the lightly-regarded event will not make up for his frustration at the World Championship in April when, entering the tournament as one of the favourites, he suffered a shock first-round loss to eventual semi-finalist Si Jiahui.

Murphy had enjoyed a stunning resurgence during the second part of the 2022 season, pocketing successive victories in the Players' Championship and the Tour Championship.

Neither player summoned a 50-plus break in the best-of-four final, for which Williams had qualified after topping Group B with victories over Cao Yupeng and Noppon Saengkham and a 2-2 draw against Sam Craigie.