SHEFFIELD, England, 1 May 2005 — Shaun Murphy completed a 17-12 victory over Peter Ebdon yesterday to become the first qualifier since 1979 to reach the final of the world snooker championship.
The pair were level at 12-12 overnight, but Murphy won the first five frames of the final session to seal the triumph.
The 22-year-old Englishman emulates Terry Griffiths who progressed through the qualifiers to reach the final of the tournament 26 years ago.
“I’ve been told for a long time that I had the talent to make it to the final of the world championships and now I have, it is a dream come true,” Murphy told reporters.
The other semifinal between Stevens and McCulloch continued to be a keenly contested affair with the pair level at 12-12 going into the final session.
The match was 8-8 when play resumed yesterday and Stevens won the opening frame to go ahead for the first time. McCulloch then won the next two frames to regain the lead.
Welshman Stevens, a losing world finalist in 2000, hit back by claiming the following three frames to go in front at 12-10.
But McCulloch won the penultimate frame of the session and then hit a 58 break to level once again. The best-of-33-frames tie was to concluded later.
