James Cahill once again proved his aptitude for beating snooker’s all-time greats as he won the deciding frame on the final black to edge out Shaun Murphy 4-3 in the second round of the WST Classic.
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Cahill is 111th in the world but is known for his capacity to thrive against much higher ranked opponents and has now won two of his three career meetings with Murphy, as well as scoring victories over Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Ding Junhui and – most famously – Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible in 2019.
Today’s success puts the Blackpool cueman through to the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time this season and sets up a match with Anthony Hamilton. Murphy scored heavily with runs of 92, 143 and 53, but couldn’t close out the result. In the decider he led by ten points when he attempted a long pot on match-ball blue, but missed his target and went in-off. Cahill converted excellent pots on blue, pink and black.
“I didn’t settle into the match today, because I was not used to the table I felt as if I was playing an alien game,” said 27-year-old Cahill. “Shaun deserved to win because he’s playing a lot better than me – I was lucky to nick it on the black. I thought I had lost the match about four times. This hasn’t been a good season for me at all, I have had a lot of first round exits. I have got to improve a lot.”
Mark Selby came from 2-0 down to beat Zhang Anda 4-3, and one more win for the four-time Crucible king would secure his position in next week’s Duelbits Tour Championship – for more on that race click here.
John Higgins added momentum to his recent upturn in form as he beat Mark Joyce 4-1 with a top break of 102. Mark Allen is yet to make a break over 50 in the tournament so far, but he’s still in the draw thanks to a narrow 4-3 defeat of Mark Davis.
Amateur Daniel Wells added another fine result to his superb season as he beat Stephen Maguire 4-1, while Tian Pengfei came from 3-0 down to edge out Shoot Out king Chris Wakelin 4-3. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh lost 4-2 to Xu Si but had the consolation of making the fourth 147 of his career – for more on that story click here.
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