Ebdon ups the pace and maintains form

Peter Ebdon quickened the pace after his controversial go-slow against Ronnie O’Sullivan to seize early control of his Embassy World Championship semi-final with Shaun Murphy.

O’Sullivan had been incensed by the snail-like speed of Ebdon, who averaged 37 seconds per shot in recovering from 8-2 down to triumph 13-11.

But it was a far more fluent Ebdon on display against outsider Murphy and each shot was averaging only 26 seconds – almost 50% faster – as he established a 6-2 lead in the first session of the best-of-33-frame contest.

The eight frames only spanned two hours, 14 minutes with Ebdon clocking up five 50-plus breaks.

Ebdon, 15-8 on with bookmakers Ladbrokes to reach the final, appeared to be showing no early effects of his gruelling late-night battle with ‘The Rocket’, who has threatened to quit the game for 12 months.

The 2002 champion drew first blood today with runs of 47 and 30 in a 20-minute opening frame.

Murphy should have been the fresher of the two players after beating six-times world champion Steve Davis with almost a session to spare on Wednesday.

But it was the first time that the 22-year-old player had tasted the one-table environment at The Crucible.

He opened his account in frame two despite initially breaking down on 34 when attempting a slow red and a 43 clearance brought him back on level terms.

The Rotherham-based player, whose pre-tournament odds had been slashed from 150-1 to 11-8, failed to convert a red when bridging over another ball in the third and Ebdon’s 78 to the blue edged him back in front.

Ebdon unsurprisingly looked full of confidence after his win over O’Sullivan and went into the mid-session holding a two-frame lead after an opening 70 in the next left Murphy requiring snookers.

A run of 77 enabled Murphy to halve his deficit after the restart and he was first amongst the balls in frame six.

But he missed a red hanging over the black pocket and Ebdon’s 52 proved decisive and then he stretched his advantage to three frames with a 69.

Murphy led 40-6 in the final frame but Ebdon looked on top of his game and a 93 clearance polished off proceedings.