PRUDENCE prevailed when John Higgins, renowned for his astute percentage snooker, beat Shaun Murphy 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Saga Insurance Masters at Wembley Conference Centre yesterday. Murphy, an outstanding long potter, has unshakeable confidence and, having triumphed at the Crucible as a qualifier last year by adopting a policy of all-out aggression, insists that any compromise would be counter-productive.
While it is all very well to be positive and allow one’s strengths to dictate strategy, many were left shaking their heads in disbelief as, by crossing into the realms of recklessness, Murphy handed Higgins break-building opportunities.
Murphy, who has not figured in a semi-final in five events since surprising everyone but himself at the Crucible, compiled a 115 break to level at 3-3, but any momentum generated was wasted when, with the cue-ball awkwardly near the jaws of a top-corner pocket early in the seventh frame, he took on and missed an extremely risky blue, off its spot to a balk pocket.
Higgins stepped in with 77 and did not allow Murphy a point in the next frame. The Scot, by now 5-3 up, also initiated the scoring in the ninth with 48 before surrendering position on the threshold of victory.
In the previous round, Murphy transformed a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 win over Ken Doherty and a repeat of that escape remained possible when, direct from an audacious plant that many others would have ignored, the 23-year-old put together a match-saving 87 clearance. However, having placed a seed of doubt in his opponent’s mind, Murphy attempted another long red, with the balls sumptuously spread, in the tenth.
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He was off target and spent the rest of the frame in his chair as Higgins booked a semi-final against Alan McManus with a run of 74. “Shaun’s such a good potter but some of the pots he goes for are do or die,” Higgins said.
McManus, known as “Angles” for his knowledge of snooker’s tactical geometry, relies on being cagey in his approach and will prove a different proposition. His 6-4 win over a woefully out of touch Mark Williams was both unattractive and, at three hours 35 minutes, lengthy.
With the exception of two frames, claimed in a single visit, Williams did nothing to restore the self-belief that has drained away since he was world No 1 and proud holder of the United Kingdom, World and Masters titles in 2003.
Mistakes were too numerous to chronicle but his most expensive blunder came in the tenth frame. With the chance to force a decider, the Welshman missed a black from short range and McManus pounced with a run of 48 to secure a win that gave him far more satisfaction than the manner in which it was achieved.
“It was really poor out there,” McManus, 35 today, said. “I was just praying for one last chance and thankfully I got it. If it had gone to 5-5, I wouldn’t have been feeling too chipper.”