体坛英语新闻：Jones stuns Murphy on world snooker championship debut

SHEFFIELD, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Jamie Jones became the fourth qualifier to reach the second round of the snooker World Championship as he shocked world number 5 Shaun Murphy, winning 10-8.

It was a tremendous Crucible debut for young Welshman Jones as he continued the excellent form he has shown this season. The 24-year-old now meets Stephen Lee or Andrew Higginson.

Murphy, the 2005 world champion, was quickly out of the blocks Monday and knocked in a break of 73 to move into a 6-4 lead. Jones took a scrappy 11th before Murphy hit a 101 to move two clear again. World No 36 Jones kept pace by winning the frame before the interval to trail by only one.

Both players missed chances after the interval but Jones kept cool and levelled at 7-7 with a break of 38. Jones then took frame 15 with a superb effort of 136 to put him into the lead for the first time since frame three. He then won a long 37 minute 16th frame to put him on the verge of a massive upset.

And he looked to have the match won on a break of 47 in frame 17, only to miss an easy pot on the penultimate red. Murphy took advantage to close to within one frame.

Breaks of 32 and 26 put Jones in control of the 18th frame, and when he slotted home a long pot on the third-last red he had done enough.

"I've never felt pressure like that in my life," said Jones. "I started off yesterday and struggled to settle down and got into it by the end of the session. Today was a bit of a mixed bag, I was playing some great shots and missing some easy ones. I've never played an occasion like that in my life.

"I know how well I've been playing, I knew if I scored well then I could win. I was just happy to be here, I just went out there to enjoy it and enjoy the experience. To come out a winner is fantastic."

Meanwhile, Ronnie O'Sullivan opened up a substantial 7-2 lead over Peter Ebdon, and Matthew Stevens converted his overnight 8-1 lead into a comfortable 10-3 victory over Marco Fu of Hong Kong, China.

The match was tipped to be a tight one by many, with Ebdon in superb form having won the China Open a few weeks ago, but his game seemed to desert him on his return to the Crucible.

There was drama in the opening frame as it ended level on 64 points each, and after a lengthy exchange on the re-spotted black, it was eventually O'Sullivan who managed to win the tense affair with a thin cut on the black to a baulk corner.

Ebdon took the next frame, but then spent most of the session in his seat as three-time world champion O'Sullivan rattled off six consecutive frames to establish a commanding lead. The run commenced in style with a 103 from the Rocket, and then a combination of solid break building and errors from his opponent allowed him to pull away.

Ebdon finally stopped the rot in the last frame of the session when he compiled his biggest break of the match, 90. But he has an uphill task tomorrow to get back into the match.

The pair will return to the table at 2:30pm local time with O'Sullivan needing just three more frames for victory.

Also on Monday, Fu produced a break of 65 to win the opening frame of the session. He followed that up with a break of 58 in the next but broke down and Stevens made 40 and 23 to move to within one frame of the win at 9-2.

Fu, the 2006 semi-finalist, got his third frame on the board with a 51, but two time Crucible finalist Stevens secured victory in frame 13 and will now play either world number 1 Mark Selby or Barry Hawkins.

"It's the first time for about five or six years I've reached the second round. It's always nice to come back as a seeded player but draws don't get any easier, Marco's a former top 8 player, it was always going to be tough. But he struggled a lot this morning and helped me along a bit, I felt comfortable and I'm glad to get a win," said Stevens.

Fu said: "I'm really disappointed, the way I was playing in practice wasn't that great, but it was nothing like as bad as this morning, it was surprising playing so badly this morning. I'm still capable but there's a lot of work to do over the summer.

"I just couldn't get any rhythm. Matthew is a very good front runner, I let him have too many chances. He played very well but I helped him to play well."