Shaun Murphy secures weekend break after surging into world championship quarter-finals

• 2005 champion hammers Xiao Guodong 13-3 at Crucible

• ‘We’re going to ship out of Sheffield for a few days’

Shaun Murphy will savour some home comforts after beating Xiao Guodong with a session to spare and reaching the last eight of the World Snooker Championship. Murphy guaranteed himself a night off on Friday with a 13-3 second-round demolition of Xiao – and then revealed he was heading home before his quarter-final gets under way on Tuesday.

“Mathematically it’s possible to win with a session to spare but you don’t think it’s going to happen,” Murphy told the BBC after a fluent potting display that produced four centuries and seven further breaks over 60. “I kept getting those little chances and I’m really pleased how I played. It doesn’t happen often because everybody’s so good. We’re going to ship out of Sheffield for a few days. Go home now.

This report will update later on Friday Continue reading...