Ding-dong battle goes Murphy's way

FORMER world champion Shaun Murphy has qualified for the last 16 stage of this week's Royal London Watches Grand Prix.

The Rotherham potter, now up to No 3 in the world rankings, dug deep to edge Chinese ace Ding Junhui in his final round-robin qualifying match at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre yesterday.

And following his 4-3 victory - his fourth win from five matches - it was understandable that the 2005 Crucible winner was pleased to have booked his place in the knockout stages.

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"It's nice to get through. It's nice to be able to stay for a few more days and actually be part of the tournament now," said Murphy.

"I thought it was a good match, I enjoyed it. When I was 3-1 up we both had chances and couldn't pot a ball, but Ding finally took one and got back into the match."

Murphy lost the opening frame as Ding pocketed a 55 break, but last season's Malta Cup winner hit back to reel off three frames on the bounce thanks to breaks of 74, 86 and 97.

Ding knocked in a break of 60 to make it 3-2, but then Murphy should have sealed victory, only to miss a black ball when on a break of 60.

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His opponent won the frame with a cool 70 break, but Murphy made sure of victory with a 49 break.

"Four out of five isn't bad, I'm very happy with the way things are going," added Murphy. "I'm hitting the ball very well. The roll-on, roll-off format is never easy for anyone because you can't prepare as you do normally."

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