Magical Murphy reaches fifth World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible

Murphy is through to his fifth world championship final, and he is aiming to reclaim snooker’s ultimate prize that he won in 2005 as a 22-year-old qualifier.

A contest that had all the hallmarks of being a keenly contested affair, the two cueists were locked at 4-4 and 8-8 after the opening sessions before four-time world champion Higgins managed to eek out a 13-11 advantage, finishing Friday night's third session in style with a break of 101.

Their third meeting on the Crucible stage - Murphy defeated his rival en route to the trophy in 2005, while Higgins turned the tables in the 2009 title decider - Englishman Murphy would have been desperate for a fast start in the concluding session, and that is exactly what he got.

'The Magician' conjured up breaks of 132 and 127 in the opening two frames of the afternoon to restore parity at 13-13. Earlier in the match, Murphy registered his 100th century break at the Crucible, becoming only the fifth player to have achieved that incredible feat.

However, 50-year-old Higgins - who was aiming to become the oldest world finalist of all-time, eclipsing fellow 'Class of 92' graduate Mark Williams' benchmark from last year - showed true grit as he cancelled out his opponent's initial salvo, taking frame 27 before a run of 88 put him two away from the target at 15-13 up.

But after the mid-session interval, momentum and the pendulum shifted as reigning British Open champion Murphy fashioned breaks of 105 - his fifth ton of the match - and 78 to level, before going in front at 16-15 for the first time since 9-8.

Trying to reach a record-equalling ninth Crucible final, Higgins was not done, though, despite having only scored 11 points from the previous three frames.

'The Wizard' produced a gutsy resistance in frame 32, getting himself into a winning position to force the decider. But whilst on a break of 50, he landed short on a black and missed it, opening the door for a counter attack.

It looked as if Murphy was going to fully punish, but having gotten himself into a match-winning position, he surprisingly missed the final red with the rest.

After a small passage of play, though, Higgins badly botched a safety on the final red, and with his second bite of the cherry, 43-year-old Murphy made no mistake to complete a memorable victory.

Murphy - who briefly slipped outside the world's top 16 for the first time in over 19 years several months ago - has been one of this season's standout performers with one ranking title and two runner-up finishes. It could have all been a very different story for him in South Yorkshire this year, however, as he crafted a clutch effort of 50 in his opening round match against qualifier Fan Zhengyi to win on the final pink in the deciding frame.

In the last 16 Murphy crushed number nine seed Xiao Guodong with a session to spare before inflicting the ‘Crucible Curse’ on reigning champion Zhao Xintong in the quarter-finals.

He will face either China's Wu Yize or Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the final; neither of those players have featured in snooker's biggest fixture before.

Following the finest day of his snooker career over two decades ago, Murphy has come close to recapturing the Crucible crown on three occasions with final berths in 2009, 2015 and 2021, although joining an exclusive club of multiple-time world champions has eluded him so far. He could realise that dream over the upcoming bank holiday weekend.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.