Lee takes slender Welsh Open advantage
Lee takes slender Welsh Open advantage
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Sunday, 05, Mar 2006 07:14
The final of snooker's Welsh Open in Newport is finely balanced after Stephen Lee took a first session lead of 5-3 over Shaun Murphy.
Even though Murphy, who is playing in only his second ranking final, was considered by most to be the favourite before play started, Lee stormed into a 4-0 lead, capitalising on a series of errors by Murphy.
The highlight of the opening frames came in the fourth, as Lee hit a splendid break of 120 without reply.
Lee could, and probably should, have stretched his lead to five frames, but failed to sink the penultimate red of the frame, a mistake that proved costly.
Murphy seized upon his opponent's disappointment to win a further two frames and could even have levelled the session at 4-4.
But after fighting back from 57-0 down, he missed the final black to hand Lee a slender advantage before play recommences in this evening's final session.
Lee was the Welsh Open runner-up in 2000 but tonight he will be hoping to go one better and claim the 35,000 first prize to end a four-year run without a trophy.