Shaun Murphy crashes out of WST Classic while Mark Selby struggles past Zhang Anda
- Planet Sport writer
- 21 March 2023
World number two Mark Selby reached the last 32 of the WST Classic with a narrow 4-3 win over Zhang Anda but the same could not be said for Shaun Murphy, who lost to James Cahill.
The four-time world champion trailed 2-0 before rattling off three straight frames, including two 50 breaks, to go in front.
But Anda took the game into a seventh and deciding frame before Selby's 66 break sent him through to a meeting with Daniel Wells.
But another former world champion Shaun Murphy crashed out, beaten 4-3 by James Cahill.
A 143 break put Murphy 2-1 in front and he also led 3-2, but he could not shake off Cahill, who held his nerve to seal victory.
But there was better news for two further former world champions as Stuart Bingham edged out Matthew Stevens 4-2 and John Higgins came from behind to beat Mark Joyce 4-1, helped by a 102 break in frame four.
Kyren Wilson demolished Stuart Carrington with a convincing 4-0 victory, while Ali Carter swept aside Pakistan's Muhammad Asif by the same score.
There were also wins for Mark Allen, Jackson Page, Robbie Williams, Jamie Clarke, David Gilbert, Anthony Hamilton, Martin Gould, Noppon Saengkham, Xu Si, Tian Pengfei and Haydon Pinhey.
