Snooker/ World Championship: Matthew Stevens, trying to become the fourth Welshman to win the World Championship after Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths and Mark Williams, last night held a 9-6 lead over Shaun Murphy, a qualifier originally offered at 150 to 1 for the title, on the first day of the best- of-35-frames final.
Stevens, the runner-up to Williams in 2000 and the loser of three semi-finals in the past four years, all of them close, had finally shaken off Ian McCullough 17-14 on Saturday, whereas Murphy, from an overnight 12-12, assembled an impressive five-frame winning streak to put out Peter Ebdon, the 2002 world champion.
Yesterday's first session saw Stevens almost snatch the opening frame after needing two snookers. The cue ball was changed by mutual consent because it had marginally assisted screw-backs but impeded follow-throughs, a sure indication that it was fractionally lighter than the balls with which it was coming in contact.
All balls are meant to be of the same weight within the manufacturer's tolerance of three grammes either way. There would, therefore, have been a noticeable effect if the cue ball had been at the lower level of tolerance and the object ball higher.
Kept scoreless in the second frame, Murphy revealed a rare moment of competitive immaturity after he had reduced his deficit to 23 in the third frame before losing position.
Unable to reach the potting angle on his chosen red, he nevertheless rejected a safety shot in favour of a dangerous attempt to pot the red through a combination of slightly swerving the cue ball and straightening up the path of the object ball on contact. Predictably, this lost him the frame as Stevens made 60 to lead 2-1.
Murphy's fluke double on the pink brought him to 2-2 but the next two frames saw him fail at several long pots of the sort which had been flying into corner pockets for him.
Stevens went quietly to 4-2 but Murphy never stopped believing that his next long pot would be successful and made 56 from one in the seventh before missing a simple blue from its spot.
Stevens failed at the last red on 34 and the 22-year-old newcomer, to his relief, closed to only one behind.
The last frame of the afternoo might well have produced parity but it was Stevens who potted a difficult black down a side cushion to make it 5-3.
Murphy notched a break of 52 at the start of the evening session, but a potted the cue-ball allowed Stevens to clear the table.
The Welshman then won a scrappy 10th frame, but Murphy refused to be disheartened, rattling off an impressive break of 125 - the highest of the match so far - to trail 7-4.
Murphy continued to play aggressively, taking on and missing a difficult yellow with the rest in the next frame. Stevens failed to capitalise, however, a missed red allowing Murphy in for a winning break of 66.
Both players missed opportunities on the resumption, Stevens finally capitalising with a break of 80 to open an 8-5 lead. The momentum was now with the Welshman, and he regained his four-frame advantage with a break of 86. But Murphy refused to fold, and a break of 84 in the 15th frame left the score at 9-6.
M Stevens (Wal) leads S Murphy (Eng) 9-5: 30-67, 98-0 (54), 103-20 (60), 55-68, 65-29, 65-22, 34-76 (56), 56-46, 58-53 (52 Murphy), 70-38, 0-125 (125), 6-79 (66), 105-24 (80), 86-5 (86), 9-103 (84).
