Doherty leads Murphy

Ireland's Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, has his work cut out tomorrow night to reach the last 16.

The Dubliner resumes with a 5-4 lead over confident qualifier Shaun Murphy but could easily have found himself in arrears.

Doherty felt the force of another young gun in Edinburgh last weekend when losing 6-5 to Mark Selby in the Scottish Open after being 4-1 and 5-4 up.

On this occasion he allowed the 20-year-old from Irthlingborough just one point in the first two frames, replying with breaks of 51 and 57.

But Murphy, the youngest player in the final stages, responded with a three-frame burst courtesy of breaks of 49, 48 and 71.

Doherty came back with 131 – the third highest break of the event - but Murphy regained his advantage with an 80 before Doherty knocked in runs of 66 and 51 to ease into a slender lead.

Murphy, beaten 10-4 by Stephen Hendry on his debut last season, requires six of the final 10 frames to cause the first major shock of the championship.