Shaun Murphy’s title defence came to an end yesterday evening at the hands of Hossein Vafaei. Shaun went into his last match of the day as “top of the table” but a 3-0 defeat saw him eventually finish only third1. Shaun has, so far, never succeeded in defending a title. Hossein though didn’t benefit much from this late win, as it was Long Zehuang who progressed to the final day on frame difference.
David Gilbert was brilliant in winning the other group.
David Gilbert, who won his sole ranking title at the BetVictor Championship League three years ago, moved a step closer to doubling his tally by progressing to the final group stage.
Gilbert and Long Zehuang topped their respective groups on Friday in Leicester to qualify for the last stage, which will take place on Wednesday July 3rd. There will be eight players in action, split into two groups of four, with the group winners to meet in the final on Wednesday night to compete for the first ranking title of the 2024/25 season.
Champion of this event in 2021, Gilbert appeared in the semi-finals at the Crucible last month and has carried his momentum into the new season. He opened Group B today with a 3-1 win over Ashley Carty, then saw off He Guoqiang 3-1 with a top break of 132. Stuart Bingham still had a chance to top the table by winning the last match of the group, but Gilbert eased to a 3-0 success.
China’s Long was the surprise winner of Group C and he’s into the last eight of a ranking event for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old played his first season on the pro tour in 2023/24, his best run coming at the Shoot Out where he reached the last 16.
He lost his opening match today 3-1 against defending champion Shaun Murphy, then hit back to score 3-0 wins over both Hossein Vafaei and Jamie Jones. Murphy would have topped the group with a draw in his last match against Vafaei, but lost 3-0. That left three players tied on two wins apiece, but Long on top with a superior frame difference.
- Just like Ronnie actually… ↩︎
Ronnie O'Sullivan 