Robertson cuts Murphy lead

Neil Robertson recovered from a dismal start to slash Shaun Murphy’s lead to four frames after the third session of their Betfred.com World Championship semi-final.

The Australian had slumped from 9-7 to 14-7 behind, but he reeled off the final three frames of the session with breaks of 66, 68 and 101 to give himself fresh hope for the evening, when play was due to resume.

His century was the first of the match by either player.

Murphy remained a firm favourite to advance to the final, with his mental fortitude likely to see him complete the job he briefly threatened to finish inside three sessions.

Had the 26-year-old won those final three frames in today’s opening session, the match would have been all over.

With 17 frames required for victory, Murphy gave himself the ideal start by taking all four frames before the mid-session interval.

Despite not being at his best he was proving too strong for the erratic Robertson.

The pair were battling for a place in the final where John Higgins was likely to be waiting.

The Scot held a 15-9 lead over Mark Allen ahead of this afternoon’s concluding session of that match.

Murphy threatened to make the second 147 maximum break of the championship in the second frame this morning, but missed a difficult 11th red along the top cushion and had to settle for 80.

Had he completed the breaks of all reds and blacks, followed by the colours, he would have shared the bounty of £157,000 which Stephen Hendry is due to receive.

After the interval it appeared that Murphy would continue a procession towards victory, when a break of 68 took him 14-7 clear.

However Robertson’s sudden upturn in form saw him out-score Murphy 267-11 over the next three frames, and the man from Melbourne knew a good start tonight would blow the match wide open.