Tour Championship 2025: Why Shaun Murphy's defeat to Barry Hawkins feels like deja vu – 'Not the first time this season'
Published 01/04/2025 at 13:57 GMT+1
Shaun Murphy's 10-1 defeat to an inspired five-century Barry Hawkins at the Tour Championship has been an oddly recurring theme of the campaign. The Masters holder has been left applauding several figures playing flawless levels of snooker. "It's not the first time this season, when I have come off a match having lost and not felt I have done that much wrong," said the 2005 world champion.
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A 10-1 defeat to Barry Hawkins sounds like a grim outcome for Shaun Murphy at the Tour Championship, but the Masters holder is unlikely to reflect too much upon the wide margin of defeat.
Not when the performance of an opponent performing "unplayable" snooker has been an oddly recurring feature of his 2024/25 campaign.
Hawkins produced five blistering centuries to lead Murphy 7-1 after the first session of their first-round match at Manchester Central on Monday before finishing with two 50+ breaks in claiming the final three frames to advance to a quarter-final meeting with world No. 1 Judd Trump.
"It's not the first time this season, when I have come off a match having lost and not felt I have done that much wrong," said Murphy.
"I have known Barry for 35 years and that's one of the best sessions of snooker I have seen him play.
"He would have been ahead of anyone this afternoon.
"I made some mistakes, but he was unplayable."
For Murphy, it must feel like a little piece of history repeating itself with several opponents, including Neil Robertson, Judd Trump, Xiao Guodong and Joe O'Connor, reaching optimum levels of play.
He was restricted to only 40 points in losing 6-0 to an inspired Trump, who rolled in breaks of 101, 77, 66, 65 and 55, in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship in Telford a fortnight ago.
This followed a 6-5 defeat to Neil Robertson in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong that saw him lose the final three frames from 5-3 ahead without scoring a point against his fellow world champion.
The Australian icon produced knocks of 55, 66 and 114 to close out the match after opening with a 114 and 104 before whitewashing Stuart Bingham 10-0 in the final.
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"That’s a pretty tough one to take. Cruel game isn’t it, snooker, it always has been," said Murphy, who has made 53 centuries this season, the fifth heaviest scorer on the professional circuit.
"Didn’t feel like I did much wrong at all and you don’t need to at this level. I’m playing one of the game’s greats in Neil.
"From 5-3 I didn’t score a point, I don’t remember having a chance to score a point.
"The last frame, the long red Neil’s knocked in is just sensational.
"So yeah, cruel game."
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‘He's been reduced to a spectator’ – Murphy applauds as Xiao knocks in third century in a row
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Robertson's run to the English Open title in September had also included a 4-1 win over Murphy in the last 32 in Brentwood.
Murphy's feeling of deja vu continued in the World Open quarter-finals in Yushan in February when he lost 5-1 to world No. 39 Joe O'Connor despite producing a knock of 128 in the third frame with his opponent running in 135, 132, 100, 68 and 66 on his run to the final.
"In Yushan, Joe was totally ridiculous," said Murphy on his podcast.
"If we’ve reached the stage where every time a player sees a pot, then they’re going to pot it and clear up every time, then I think we’re near the end.
"Players are starting to complete snooker.
"As the challenges of the sport as a game, they are starting to work it out, and they are starting to complete it. It’s like playing a cheat code.
"I remember, in that match against Joe O’Connor in Yushan, I sat in my chair and said to myself it was like playing the PlayStation on God mode."
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‘There’s joy in Judd land!’ – Trump finally beats Murphy in five-hour epic to reach Saudi final
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Ding Junui produced 143, 122, 74 and 54 against Murphy in the second round of the Riyadh Season Championship before Christmas after he lost 4-3 to Lei Peifan in the last 32 of the Scottish Open in Edinburgh despite compiling two tons.
Lei progressed to claim his maiden ranking title with a 9-5 over Wu Yize in the final.
In keeping with the theme of the season, he made a superb 112 break, but lost 5-1 to Xiao Guodong in the Wuhan Open quarter-finals in October with his opponent rolling in 139, 125, 113 and 75 on his way to claiming the trophy.
Murphy began the season by reaching the Shanghai Masters final in July, but lost 11-5 to Trump with both players producing three centuries each in the showpiece occasion.
His next meeting with Trump saw him edged out 6-5 in the Saudi Arabia Masters semi-finals in September before Trump claimed the £500,000 title with a 10-9 win over Mark Williams in the final.
Trump also rolled in two centuries in a 5-1 victory over Murphy in the last eight of the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast in October.
Add a 6-2 defeat to a heavy-scoing Hawkins in the last eight of the UK Championship in November and a 6-2 loss to Chris Wakelin in the last 32 of the International Championship, with both men progressing to the final, and you can understand Murphy's sense of frustration.
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'You can celebrate now!' - The moment Murphy sealed second Masters title with sublime century
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Murphy is in line to be seeded 15th for the World Championship after his early exit at the Tour Championship, but his results perhaps do not illustrate how well he has been performing.
Despite winning the Masters for a second time with a 10-8 win over world champion Kyren Wilson, there is a sense that Murphy has been close to winning several major events this season.
His levels of play suggest he will be among the major threats at the 49th World Championship, from April 16 to May 5, live on TNT Sports and discovery+, 20 years after he lifted the sport's biggest trophy as a qualifier.
Unless deja vu strikes at the Crucible, his output this season suggests it will require a special type of performance to topple him.
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