Shaun Murphy crafted a magnificent 147 break as he came from behind to win his Masters semi-final 6-3 against Mark Allen at Alexandra Palace. After a nervous start from both players, each missing routine reds into the bottom corner, it was Allen, tournament winner in 2018, who built a couple of solid breaks that proved enough to take the opening frame.
Some more solid scoring and safety play from the Northern Irishmanextended his lead before Murphy won the third framewith a break of 66. A long red helped set Murphy, the 2015 champion, on his way to a run of 83 as he levelled the match at 2-2 at the mid-session interval.
On the resumption, Murphy was not disturbed by an appearance from the Alexandra Palace wasp, going on to complete the turnaround and lead 3-2 helped by a break of 54.
“The Magician” had missed a maximum attempt during his 6-2 win over Neil Robertson on Thursday, having snookered himself behind the blue when on 120, but maintained perfect position as he picked off three tricky reds around the pink spot. Murphy confidently knocked in the colours off their spots to complete the sixth 147 break in the history of the Masters.
Despite Allen reducing the arrears at 4-3, Murphy rattled off the final two frames required to reach Sunday’s final, where he will face Judd Trump or Kyren Wilson.
