Murphy using O’Sullivan as template for more ‘aggressive’ approach as Rocket clash looms

Shaun Murphy will play Ronnie O’Sullivan for a place in the 2024 Masters final and ‘The Magician’ has revealed his newfound style, inspired by ‘The Rocket’ himself.

The 41-year-old, who triumphed at the Masters in 2015, admitted to letting his game slow down recently but has taken inspiration from the seven-time World Champion to combat it.

“I’ve been very guilty, even with winning tournaments where I won three last year, even with that, I’ve been slipping into second, third gear,” Murphy told Eurosport. “I’d gone very slow and I’d gone very careful. I started looking at things far too long.

“The hours and hours of practice we’ve all been putting in since we were kids, [I’ve] stored all the shots. I know what shot to play. I don’t need to look around the table four times.

“You watch O’Sullivan, he just gets on with it and just knows what to do. We all know what to do. It’s only that anxiety and that desire to be perfect that slows you down and in the end, I just don’t think it does you any good.

“Of course, everyone’s different. But it doesn’t do me any favours and I’ve finally learned that.”

Murphy was cruising 5-1 in his quarter-final meeting with Lisowski at one stage and began the contest in blistering fashion, sinking an eight-minute break of 75 to take the opening frame.

In just 51 minutes, Murphy had a break of 131 under his belt and led 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

Despite ‘Jackpot’ reducing the deficit to two frames for 5-3, Murphy didn’t seem to be under a great deal of pressure and said his “newfound desire” to play quicker and more aggressively helped him get the job done.

“Early on in the match, I think I won the first frame in one hit off the break-off and in the second frame we both had chances, and the last couple of times out he put me to the sword sharply,” he said. “Even the match at the British Open went to the decider, but it was one-visit stuff all the way through.

“When I noticed in the first frame he didn’t clear up in one hit, I thought ‘Maybe he’s not quite at the peak of his powers today’, he is only human. He can sit there and just blast you away, blow you away.

“That’s what had happened in the previous two meetings, but I really think my newfound desire and decision to play the way I used to play, I’m not saying it intimidated him but it defiantly got the balls on my side and I don’t know if those two things are related.

“I went through a period in the mid-naughties and early 2010s, that kind of era, I was being aggressive but stupid. I’m not stupid anymore and when I need to I will reign it in, but of course, everyone prefers to be aggressive.”

On his upcoming battle with O’Sullivan in his first semi-final since 2020, Murphy believes he has a chance of eliminating the seven-time Masters champion.

“Can’t wait,” he said. “We’ve never played here, we’ve played everywhere else. We’ve played a lot of good matches over the years.

“I think it’s been quite a while since we’ve played, but obviously a big, big test. The toughest test, the sternest test, obviously.

“If I play like I played today, I might be more than a handful.”

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