Jones shocks Murphy on world snooker championship debut

Sheffield (England), April 24 (IANS) Jamie Jones became the fourth qualifier to reach the second round of the World Snooker Championship, pulling off a shock victory over World No.5 Shaun Murphy 10-8.

It was a tremendous debut for young Jones as he continued the excellent form he has shown this season, reports Xinhua.

The 24-year-old Welshman now meets Stephen Lee or Andrew Higginson.

Murphy, the 2005 world champion, was quickly out of the blocks Monday and knocked in a break of 73 to move into a 6-4 lead. Jones took a scrappy 11th before Murphy hit a 101 to move two clear again. World No.36 Jones kept pace by winning the frame before the interval to trail by only one.

Both players missed chances after the interval, but Jones stayed cool and levelled at 7-7 with a break of 38. Jones then took frame 15 with a superb effort of 136 to put him in the lead for the first time after frame three. He then won a long 37-minute 16th frame to put himself on the verge of a massive upset.

And he looked to have the match won on a break of 47 in frame 17, only to miss an easy pot on the penultimate red. Murphy took advantage to close to within one frame.

Breaks of 32 and 26 put Jones in control of the 18th frame, and when he slotted home a long pot on the third-last red he had done enough.

Meanwhile, Ronnie O'Sullivan opened up a substantial 7-2 lead over Peter Ebdon, and Matthew Stevens converted his overnight 8-1 lead into a comfortable 10-3 victory over Marco Fu of Hong Kong, China.

The match was tipped to be a tight one by many, with Ebdon in superb form having won the China Open a few weeks ago, but his game seemed to desert him Monday.

There was drama in the opening frame as it ended level on 64 points each, and after a lengthy exchange on the re-spotted black, it was eventually O'Sullivan who managed to win the tense affair with a thin cut on the black to a baulk corner.

Ebdon took the next frame, but then spent most of the session in his seat as three-time world champion O'Sullivan rattled off six consecutive frames to establish a commanding lead. The run commenced in style with a 103 from the Rocket, and then a combination of solid break building and errors from his opponent allowed him to pull away.

Ebdon finally stopped the rot in the last frame of the session when he compiled his biggest break of the match, 90. But he has an uphill task Tuesday to get back into the match.

The pair will return to the table with O'Sullivan needing just three more frames for victory.

Also Monday, Fu produced a break of 65 to win the opening frame of the session. He followed that up with a break of 58 in the next but broke down and Stevens made 40 and 23 to move to within one frame of the win at 9-2.

Fu, the 2006 semi-finalist, got his third frame on the board with a 51, but two time finalist Stevens secured victory in frame 13 and will now play either world number 1 Mark Selby or Barry Hawkins.

Results:

Best of 19 frames:

Stephen Maguire (Scotland) bt Luca Brecel (Belgium) 10-5; Jamie Jones (Wales) bt Shaun Murphy (England) 10-8; Matthew Stevens (Wales) bt Marco Fu (Hong Kong- China) 10-3.

First session:

Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) leads Peter Ebodn (England) 7-2; Andrew Higginson (England) leads Stephen Lee (England) 5-4.