Shaun Murphy leads Stuart Bingham 9-8 in World Championship final

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/03/shaun-murphy-stuart-bingham-snooker-final

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Stuart Bingham, in his first world championship final, showed remarkable resilience to reduce ominous deficits of 3-0 and 8-4 to trail Shaun Murphy by a single frame after an astonishing first day’s play here in Sheffield.

A 38-year-old former journeyman who did not win a ranking event until 2011, Bingham has been this year’s revelation, garnering much public support on the back of tears of joy shed in the wake of wins over Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump on an arduous route to his first world title decider. At times on Sunday he could have been forgiven for weeping in frustration at being pitched into battle against Murphy, the 32-year-old 2005 champion who often looked as if he could not put a spat-enclosed foot wrong. It is to Bingham’s immense credit that he refused to buckle under extreme pressure having been left trailing in his opponent’s chalk dust at the beginning of both sessions. His Terminator like obduracy in the face of Murphy’s brutal onslaughts suggests that, on the 30th anniversary of that epic black ball final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, this thriller might also go the distance.

After the hoopla and razzmatazz that accompanied the previous evening’s Fight of the Century in Las Vegas, the pre-match niceties in Sheffield were comparatively low key, but garnished with some of the bells and whistles appropriated from boxing by World Snooker chief Barry Hearn. The BBC’s master of ceremonies Rob Walker invariably does a more than passable impersonation of Michael Buffer when it comes to whipping the Crucible crowd into something approaching a frenzy, even if the combatants consign their entourages to the gallery and have the good grace to look mildly embarrassed by the incongruous walk-on music that soundtracks their waves to the crowd.

While Pacqiao and Mayweather attracted a swarm of A-list royalty headed by Beyonce and Jay Z, here it was left to Roy Keane, Martin Navratilova and Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain to help fill the ringside celebrity quota in an audience otherwise comprised of the usual civilian enthusiasts of every age, stripe and shade. Whatever your opinion on snooker’s status as gladiatorial combat or quaint parlour game, it’s popularity endures.

Murphy roared out of the traps to win the first three frames with breaks of 68, 59 and 65 but Bingham refused to be cowed. After posting the final’s first century, a quickfire 105, he was unquestionably the happier of the two players at the conclusion of a first session that ended with the score all square at four frames apiece. Murphy’s largesse was surprising. Taking on and missing long pots that were ambitious even by the standards of his usual have-a-go heroism, he paid accordingly.

In the evening Murphy surged ahead again. pouncing on Bingham’s errors to score heavily and turn the screw. Looking for all the world as if he was incapable of missing, he machine-gunned consecutive breaks of 74, 106 and 121 en route to an 8-4 lead. But Bingham, his mettle tested again, responded with 76, 123 and 89, consigning Murphy to his chair without a potted ball to his name for two whole frames. The next two were shared, to leave Murphy 9-8 ahead after 17 frames that yielded four centuries as well as 13 other half-centuries. Expect plenty more twists in this white-knuckle race to 18 frames.