SHAUN MURPHY reached the second round of the BetVictor Welsh Open in just 57 minutes on Friday.
Murphy, recent winner of the Gdynia Open, defeated Ireland’s David Morris 4-0 at the Newport Centre.
The former world champion, who recently also won a group of the Championship League, underlined his current confidence by completing victory with a 142 total clearance in the last frame.
“It just goes to show that snooker is about the six inches between your ears,” said Murphy, the 2006 Welsh Open runner-up.
“I did well in Poland and at the Championship League. It was good medicine for me. It’s been a long time since I won and it’s changed my confidence. I’m looking forward to playing all the time.
“I played well but felt a bit sorry for David because I could see he wasn’t used to how the TV tables play. I remember my first time out there in that arena and the tables seemed to be different. He missed a few shots just because he didn’t know and I was able to capitalise on the mistakes.”
Mark Davis survived a scare against 17 year-old Swiss rookie Alexander Ursenbacher, who fought back from 3-0 down before Davis won the decider.
Davis, beaten in the qualifiers for the China Open earlier this week, won the final frame in four scoring visits to stave off further disappointment.
“It looked very dodgy at 3-3,” Davis said. “I stumbled a bit. My concentration hasn’t been there for the last few tournaments for whatever reason.
“It’s a long season and you can’t play well all the time. It’s a case of trying to win when you’re not playing so good, which I managed to do today.”
Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion, made breaks of 77, 98, 54 and 54 to beat Lee Page 4-0 in 61 minutes.
Pankaj Advani, a quarter-finalist at Newport last year, was beaten 4-3 by Joel Walker, who compiled a 55 break in the deciding frame.
Photographs by Monique Limbos.