Shaun Murphy has taken a cheeky jibe at Barry Hawkins, as the snooker star found himself being trounced by No.1 seed Judd Trump.
Hawkins was 4-0 down to superstar Trump at the mid-session break in a repeat of December’s UK Championships final at the Masters in London, barely potting a ball as the Ace in the Pack swept into a dominant position with little more than an hour played. And when asked what the voice in his head would be saying if he were in Hawkins’ position, BBC pundit Murphy quipped: “Check Google Maps and see if you’ll miss the traffic home.
“It’s very difficult, but it’s more a case of when you see your opponent playing so well. You’re against the player of the season, he’s doing everything correctly, the game’s going against you, he’s played two good splits. It’s all gone wrong, you think ‘why am I here’? Barry is not going to give up, that’s not what I’m saying, he’s not going to give up at all. And this could change, but it doesn’t look like it would.”
Murphy returns to action at Alexandra Palace himself as he takes on Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals in what will be a repeat of the 2012 and 2015 Masters finals, with each player triumphing once. Speaking after his opening round success against Gary Wilson, the Magician also made a navigation related jibe, telling WST: “It will be a delight to play Neil. We turned pro in the same year in 1998 and I have immense respect for him. We take the mickey out of him a bit because he doesn’t know how sat-nav works so isn’t guaranteed to be here.
“But I’ll be here and hoping to bring my A game. Over the last couple of days people have been saying that Neil is on a freeroll. But he’s a multiple winner, not a wild card who has never been here before.”