Snooker: Stevens takes control as Murphy stutters (original) (raw)

Matthew Stevens, beaten by his fellow Welshman Mark Williams in the 2000 final and in three subsequent semi-finals, will start the penultimate session of the best-of-35-frames Embassy world championship final this afternoon with a 10-6 lead over Shaun Murphy, the first qualifer to reach the final since Terry Griffiths won at his first attempt in 1979.

A surprisingly sluggish opening session of three hours and seven minutes, including four frames over half an hour, saw Stevens lead 2-1 and 4-2 before he committed himself to an all-or-nothing black down the side cushion and took a 5-3 advantage into the evening.

As brilliantly as the 22-year-old Murphy had performed in running off five consecutive frames from 12-12 to defeat Peter Ebdon in the semi-finals, he appeared a little jaded as his trademark long pots all too often failed to find their target. A few unforced errors also crept in and there were more early in the evening session, notably in missing a frame-ball red as he went 7-3 behind.

Rallying with a clearance of 125 followed by a break of 66, Murphy narrowed the gap to 7-5 only for Stevens, in his most fluent spell of the day, to re-establish a four-frame gap at 9-5 with consecutive frame-winners of 80 and 86.

Murphy pulled a frame back with a break of 84 but failed when 48 in front in the final frame of the evening and ultimately lost it on the pink.

Prize money of £250,000 awaits the winner this evening with £125,000 going to the runner-up, the last contributions Embassy will make in the £23m it has invested in the sport since 1976.

In finally overcoming the stout resistance of Ian McCulloch 17-14 on Saturday night, Stevens came within three points of supplementing whatever he earns tonight with a half-share of the £161,000 provisionally awarded to Williams for his first-round maximum.

Of course, £80,500 would have been welcome but if Stevens had been given a choice between that and having his name inscribed on the 78-year-old trophy he would not have hesitated.

This 27-year-old Stevens, the winner of a $500,000 poker tournament a few months ago, knows there will be few more realistic chances of winning at the Crucible. Sixth in the official rankings, he will be third in the end-of-season list if he becomes the fourth Welshman after Ray Reardon, Griffiths and Williams to do so.