Shaun Murphy has booked his place in the quarter-finals of the China Championship with a resounding 5-0 victory over Stephen Maguire on Saturday. The 2005 world champion, who lost in the quarter-finals of last month’s Hong Kong Masters, never looked in any danger against his Scottish opponent, as he rounded off the victory in style with a break of 104 in the final frame.
The 35-year-old, whose last tournament success came at the 2017 Gibraltar Open, will now face Chinese teenager Zhou Yuelong in the last eight, as he saw off Englishman Martin Gould 5-2 in his quarter-final match. Zhou, who qualified for the World Championships for the first time earlier this year, only recorded one half-century break during his victory over Gould, but he did beat world number one Mark Selby in the previous round. Belgian Luca Brecel remains on course to win his first ranking event, after he booked his place in the last eight with a 5-3 victory over England’s Mike Dunn. Two-time world champion Mark Williams is also through to the quarter-finals after he beat Tom Ford 5-3 to maintain his impressive start to the season.
The Welshman has already reached the semi-finals of the Riga Masters this term, where he was narrowly beaten by eventual champion Ryan Day, and he has also moved back into the top 16 of the world rankings.