Shaun Murphy. Picture by Monique Limbos

SHAUN MURPHY just needs four more frames to win his second major title in consecutive months after he dominated the opening session of the German Masters final against Mark Selby.

Despite losing two of the first three frames of the match, Murphy – who won the Masters last month – went on to earn a 5-3 lead going into this evening’s final session.

Selby and Murphy are looking to win their first German Masters title today after clinching semi-finals wins yesterday (Saturday) against Stephen Maguire and Liang Wenbo respectively. The first to nine frames will win the title and prize money worth 80,000 Euros (approx £60,000).

A scrappy opening frame was won by Selby, playing in his first major final since winning his first World Championship last year, before a break of 72 from Murphy levelled the score at 1-1.

Selby regained the lead shortly afterwards with runs of 44 and 53 in the third only for Murphy to level again with a superb break of 130 after Selby missed a long red.

After the mid-session interval Murphy continued his fine form playing some stunning shots as a break of 118 saw him go ahead for the first time at 3-2. He then won his third frame on the bounce on the final colours to go 4-2 up.

There was no stopping Murphy at this point and a break of 51 saw him extend his lead to 5-2 ahead of the session’s final frame.

And the 2005 world champion looked a strong contender to go 6-2 up but Selby had other ideas as a tremendous clearance saw him come back from 62-8 down to steal the frame and reduce his arrears to 5-3.

With just two frames in the contest between them, this year’s German Masters final looks like it could go all the way. Play resumes 7pm (British time).