Shaun Murphy celebrates victory after the quarterfinal match between Shaun Murphy of England and Zhao Xintong of China at the World Snooker Championship 2026 in Sheffield, Britain, on April 29, 2026. (Photo by Zhai Zheng/Xinhua)
London: Shaun Murphy defeated four-time champion John Higgins in a dramatic World Championship semi-final on Saturday to leave the Englishman just one match away from adding a second global snooker title to the one he won 21 years ago.
The Englishman will now face the winner of the second semi-final between China's Wu Yize and Northern Ireland's Mark Allen, who are locked at 11-11 in a match that will be played to a finish later Saturday.
"I came out today knowing if I got my chances I could score," Murphy told the BBC following a tense victory at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in northern England that saw him into his fifth world final.
He added: "But John Higgins... What a player and what a man. The harder it gets on the table the tougher he gets. He's such a competitor. If I'm half the player when I'm in my fifties as he is, I'll be very proud."
Higgins, 51 later this month, said: "My shot on the black on the frame at the end there was very weak."
Nevertheless, he paid tribute to Murphy by saying: "But the way Shaun hit the ball in that last session -- you cannot hit it better than that. It was incredible, it really was"
