Murphy takes early lead

Snooker : Shaun Murphy continued in the form which had seem him produce one of the greatest comebacks in the World Championships…

Snooker: Shaun Murphy continued in the form which had seem him produce one of the greatest comebacks in the World Championships as he opened up an early lead in the semi-final with qualifier Mark Selby.

Murphy had come from 12-7 down to defeat Matthew Stevens in the previous round and he won three of the opening four frames against Selby.

Murphy was an odds-on favourite with bookmakers to reach the final with Selby rated at 13-8 to go through in the best-of-33 frame contest.

Murphy had runs of 39 and 38 to open his account and a break of 70 in the next doubled the advantage of Murphy, who two years ago had become the lowest ranked player at 48 to win snooker's greatest prize.

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Selby, at 23 the youngest player left in the tournament, was taking time to adjust to the one-table arena in front of a packed Crucible audience.

In the other semi-final Stephen Maguire and John Higgins shared the opening eight frames in the battle of the Scots.