Shaun Murphy has defeated Kyren Wilson with an embarrassing scoreline to claim the Welsh Open.

How did Kyren Wilson even get into the finals of the Welsh Open? These are unspoken words that must have rummaged the minds of most people that were in Cardiff for the Shaun Murphy vs Kyren Wilson encounter. Even the latter must have been wondering what could have gone wrong.

The Englishman just before this final encounter was responsible for taking out veteran professional, Ronnie O’Sullivan. Perhaps the best excuse for the 28-year-old ranked world number 8 would be that he had a hangover from a hard-fought win against the 36-ranking title winner in the semifinals. His opponent had the better part of him this time.

Murphy was in irresistible form and smashed his opponent by a 9-1 scoreline. Wilson was clueless for most parts of the game as he watched the 37-year-old dismantle him part after part in an excruciatingly slow and painful manner.

Shaun Murphy started on the front foot, registering his first frame win a magnificent century. This surely dictated the pace for what was to come. Shortly after, the Magician registered his second frame of the clash with an impressive break of 84. At this point, there was a subtle note of warning sent out to Wilson fans by Murphy that their fave was rather out of sorts against his more confident and brilliant opponent.

Wilson got the quickest start to the third frame, racking up a swift half-century before stuttering at the crucial minute and allowing Murphy glide past him to make it 3-0.

Another break of 76 helped Murphy snatch a six-frame lead before Wilson saved himself some blushes from a complete whitewash by winning the seventh frame in gritty fashion.

The fans who bought tickets to the finals must have been left disgruntled at the proceedings on the table as what was supposed to be a fierce final between two brilliant cueists turned out to be a rather one-sided affair. Murphy sealed the eighth frame yet again with another century break, posting a 7-1 scorecard in the process.

The 37-year-old was unstoppable and grabbed two more frames to come out tops and nail the win in emphatic fashion. Wilson was so disturbed by the humiliating defeat that he had to apologise to the fans.

“I just have to say sorry I couldn’t give the fans more for their money’s worth,” the world number 8 said.

Written by: Roland Arim