‘World of trouble’ - Shaun Murphy error draws gasps from crowd as Mark Selby profits from ‘dreadful mess’ at Shanghai Masters
Updated 31/07/2025 at 10:56 GMT+1
Shaun Murphy had a horror moment during his 2025 Shanghai Masters opener on Tuesday, as he fell to a 6-0 defeat to Mark Selby. On his way to a whitewash from 'The Jester from Leicester', Murphy failed to hit a brown, which drew shock from the TNT Sports commentary and fans alike. Watch and stream top snooker action, including the Shanghai Masters, live and on demand on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Watch: 'He's made a dreadful mess of it!' - Murphy with an extraordinary error against Selby
Video credit: TNT Sports
The crowd gasped at the Luwan Gymnasium in China as Shaun Murphy made a "dreadful mess" of his attempts to escape a Mark Selby safety at the 2025 Shanghai Masters.
Trailing 1-0 in the match and looking to stay alive in the second frame, Murphy tried to clip a brown at the bottom of the table after Selby had played a tidy defensive shot.
The 2025 Masters champion seemed to have a clear route to the object ball, but instead, smashed into the troublesome black.
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"Goodness, he's caught the black!" a shocked Philip Studd said on TNT Sports commentary, as those in attendance showed the same emotion.
Co-commentator Neal Foulds added: "He's made a dreadful mess of it, hasn't he? I don't know if it's a free ball either way, but he's in a world of trouble now."
There was indeed a free ball as Selby returned to the baize, which means the balls did not need to be replaced - much to the delight of the referee.
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Murphy and Selby were contesting in the first round of the tournament, and both players began their campaigns looking to win the Shanghai crown for the first time.
Murphy has reached the final on two occasions without a win, while four-time world champion Selby won it in 2011, but has not progressed beyond the semi-finals since it changed to a non-ranking event.
However, the early mistake on Tuesday seemed to rattle Murphy, who could not mount any sort of comeback and fell to a 6-0 whitewash at the deadly hands of his compatriot, who advanced to the second round.
What's a free ball?
As explained by the WPBSA, "a free ball is a ball, other than the ball on, which the striker nominates as the ball on when snookered after a foul".
Essentially, this means that if a player commits a foul and the cue ball is snookered and therefore his or her opponent cannot directly make contact with either edge of the object ball, the referee will allow the incoming player to nominate any colour ball on the table as the "ball on" for that shot.
Should the player pot that ball, they will be awarded a point - or up to the value of a nominated colour.
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