Shaun Murphy spoke of his frustration after he lost a final frame thriller to Mark Allen in the Tour Championship.

The former world champion lost 9-8 in the opening round – despite knocking in six century breaks throughout the match.

But it was 2018 Masters winner Allen who came storming back from 8-7 down to win and book a place in the semi-finals of this season’s penultimate ranking event.

He will next face three-times world champion Mark Selby with the winner advancing to the final, which will be held on Friday.

Shaun Murphy. Picture by Monique Limbos

Allen made the most of a fortunate opening red in the final frame to close out the thrilling victory. And Murphy clearly expressed his disappointment on losing after the match when speaking to ITV4.

He said: “I’m left licking the wounds, Mark’s beat me twice over best-of-17 and in both matches he’s fluked match ball.

“So that seems to be the only way he can beat me over distance at the moment, so if we have a fair fight maybe I might win the next one.”

According to snooker data website Cuetracker, the only other time Allen defeated Murphy in a best-of-17 encounter was in the 2018 Scottish Open final – which the Ulsterman won 9-7.

The first Tour Championship semi-final between Stephen Maguire and Judd Trump will be played on Wednesday.

Featured Image by Monique Limbos