Shaun Murphy weathers Mark Selby fightback to reach Players Championship quarter-finals in Wolverhampton

Shaun Murphy continued his excellent recent form as he weathered a Mark Selby fightback to reach the quarter-finals of the Players Championship in Wolverhampton. Murphy, who was runner-up at the Welsh Open to Robert Milkins at the weekend, made breaks of 92, 75 and 72 in a 6-3 victory. Ad The 2005 world champion will next face Ryan Day, who won his opener 6-2 against Chris Wakelin.

Players ChampionshipPlayers Championship LIVE — Trump takes on Carter after Murphy beats Selby6 HOURS AGO Murphy said he felt like “Neo from the Matrix” at last week’s Welsh Open as he made back-to-back breaks of 145 and 147 against Daniel Wells. Even though he came up short in the final against Milkins, that didn’t look to be dwelling on his mind as he quickly settled into his groove against Selby. A break of 72 saw Murphy take the opening frame of the match.

Selby got in first in the second frame but ran out of position at 32-0 ahead. That let Murphy to the table and he moved into the lead before getting the better of a high-quality safety exchange to move 2-0 up. Wells says O'Sullivan comments 'damaging' and 'humiliating' O'Connor stuns Allen to reach quarter-finals Murphy continued to look in fine form.

Selby left a red to the right corner following a safety and then watched from his chair as Murphy knocked in a 75 break to extend his lead. Selby’s hopes of a comeback looked to be growing smaller as Murphy got in again in the fourth frame. However, just as the frame looked to be won, Murphy missed a frame-ball red with the rest.