Shaun Murphy responds to ‘like God’ John Higgins comment after Crucible clash

John Higgins heaped serious praise on Shaun Murphy after their Crucible semi-final, saying the Magician hits the ball ‘like God.’

Murphy emerged from their epic World Championship semi with a 17-15 victory, booking a spot in the final, which starts on Sunday at 1pm.

There was little between the players for much of the contest, but the Magician was superb in the final session, coming into it 11-13 behind.

The 43-year-old made three centuries in the final session on Saturday afternoon and claimed the final four frames on the spin to secure a fifth trip to a Crucible final.

Higgins was disappointed to miss out on a ninth final for himself in Sheffield, but was blown away by how Murphy played in the final session.

‘Shaun, you can’t hit the ball better than that, the way Shaun hit the ball in the last session, it was incredible,’ Higgins said on the BBC. ‘He hits it like God. Disappointed, but what can you do?’

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He added: ‘Shaun was awesome, every credit. It was a great three days, I thought it was a really good match, traded punch for punch. Shaun just came out the stronger at the end so congratulations to him.’

Being labelled a divine cueist by one of the greatest players in history is going to be a boost for anyone’s confidence and Murphy didn’t deny that it was nice to hear.

‘Yeah, I’ll take that,’ he said. ‘I don’t like to give myself too much praise, but I’m going to have that one.’

The Magician was not short of praise for the 50-year-old either, telling the BBC: ‘John Higgins, what a player, what a man. The harder it gets out here, the tougher he gets, the better he plays, Would you give me a break?

‘What a player, what a competitor, what a man he’s been. If I’m half the player when I’m in my fifties as he is, I’ll be very proud.’

Having been stunned by Murphy’s performance late on in the game, Higgins admitted that it is surprising the Englishman has just one World Championship title to his name.

‘It is…it is [surprising], but then you look at the other players. It’s just a tough tournament to win,’ said the Wizard of Wishaw.

‘[Judd] Trump’s only won it once, [Neil] Robertson’s only won it once, Shaun’s only won it once. Some guys have not won it. Ding [Junhui]’s not won it. It’s such a tough tournament to win.

‘He’s got a chance to now win it a second time, but he’s going up against Wu [Yize] or Mark [Allen] who are desperate to win it for a first time.

‘It’s set up nicely for the final two days.’

Murphy accepted that he had got his tactics just slightly wrong ahead of the final session, deciding to be a little more circumspect at times.

‘I felt like I’d perhaps pushed the pedal a couple of times when I should have waited,’ he said. ‘There was two or three shots. I just thought, he [Higgins] wouldn’t have played that. Mark Selby wouldn’t have played that.

‘So today I said to Peter [Ebdon, his coach] before we came out, I’m not doing that today. Which is hard for me because my natural instinct was to attack at all times.

‘And I just thought, I’m not going to play a shot where I’m just going to go, there you go, make as many as you can. Maybe I’m learning eventually. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find out in the end.’

Wu and Allen are scrapping it out for the chance to join Murphy in the Sheffield showpiece, with the possibility that the Magician is long tucked up in bed before they get out of the Crucible.

The pair started their final session locked at 11-11 on Saturday evening.

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