Shaun Murphy proves BBC pundits wrong at World Snooker Championship | Other | Sport
No first-time winner of the tournament has ever managed to successfully defend their inaugural title in Sheffield. And despite the aura surrounding Zhao at present, he proved no different after falling 13-10 to ‘The Magician’ on Wednesday. Murphy, 43, could make it to a fifth career final at the Crucible if he manages to beat John Higgins in the semis. However, the 2005 winner has already celebrated a momentous victory after ousting the titleholder. By doing so, he’s made BBC commentators Dennis Taylor and Stephen Hendry eat their own words. And Taylor, in particular, professed a strong sentiment that Zhao would become the first to successfully retain the world championship after his maiden win.
“I’m going to go for Zhao Xintong beating the Crucible Curse,” he told Betway in March. “That would be a big story. He’d be the first player ever to do that, and I think he can because he’s capable of doing that.
“I just love the way he plays the game. He reminds me a lot of Ronnie [O’Sullivan] with the way he flows into the shot. He’s just such a complete player and is great to watch.”
Seven-time world champion Hendry was inclined to agree and said he felt Zhao was capable of breaking the habit. ‘The King of the Crucible’ came close to breaking the curse himself given he won six of his seven championships across a seven-year span but saw his first title defence end at the quarter-final stage in 1991, just like Zhao.
On the eve of the tournament, Hendry told Metro: “I think he can. I think a lot depends on the draw, you can get a tricky draw. It doesn’t matter how cool he is. When you walk down those stairs as defending champion, it’s a massive thing. But I don’t think it’ll be as big a thing for him.
“I don’t think Chinese players have grown up in the culture of defending champions, Crucible curses and things like that. So it might not mean as much to him, but still, if he gets a really tough draw in the first round and he’s a bit nervous, he can go out.”
Hendry successfully predicted a second-round fixture against Ding Junhui, which Zhao overcame fairly comfortably 13-9. However, it was the quarter-final showdown against Murphy that put paid to the Scot’s forecast that the 29-year-old could end the curse.
The Magician is seeded eighth in Sheffield this year and comes up against the highest-remaining seed in No. 5 Higgins next. The winner of that matchup will advance to face either 10th seed Wu Yize or 14th seed Mark Allen in the decider.
