A delighted Shaun Murphy claimed his first Masters' title yesterday with a resounding victory over world number one Neil Robertson. The Aussie had been so impressive in defeating Ali Carter and defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in earlier rounds, that many believed that the final was his for the taking. Yet, Murphy did not sign up to that belief, as he demonstrated that his opponent was indeed fallible by routing him 10-2 in an unexpectedly one-sided encounter at the Alexandra Palace to take the £200,000 first prize.
Murphy now joins the select list of players who have won the 'Triple Crown' of snooker, with only ten names having featured on the list of those victorious at the World, UK and Masters' events.
The names represent many of the leading players that the game has produced, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Alex Higgins. The full list also includes Terry Griffiths, Mark Selby, Mark Williams and Murphy's opponent in the final, Robertson. It has taken him several years to achieve that feat as he duly recognised, with his World crown being back in 2005 and the UK success in 2008. However, it was just reward for the man who endured a 10-6 reversal at Robertson's hands in the Masters' final of 2012 and was close to quitting the sport last year as his form dipped.
The Englishman dominated from the outset as the favourite seemed slightly out of sorts and never really able to settle in the first session, missing his usually consistent long ball potting form.
Murphy by contrast seemed focussed and on top of his game as he sauntered into a confident 5-0 lead, making few if any mistakes and scoring heavily, including a century break. Robertson finally got on the board in the sixth frame but after sharing the next two frames with his opponent, trailed 6-2 going into the second session.
If the Aussie thought that his form would return after the break he was misinformed, as Murphy proceeded to rattle off the next four frames to clinch an impressive 10-2 success, including a 127 break in the tenth frame.
The match proved that snooker is won by the player who remains on the table and is no respecter of reputations or previous form, since Robertson could do very little while Murphy was playing so well and scoring highly and more importantly, not allowing his adversary out of his seat. Robertson's form when he was allowed to play was not as high as in previous games that is for sure, but Murphy seemed to be a man with a fixed agenda and was never going to depart from that until the title was his.