Shaun Murphy reached his second final of the season as he beat Mark Allen 10-3 in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.
Good friends off the table, Murphy showed little mercy to Allen on it, producing a terrific display that saw him record nine breaks of 50+.
It was actually Allen who started the brighter, dominating the opening frame before Murphy won frame two on the colours having initially made a break of 51.
Murphy then added breaks of 88 and 82 to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval before Allen stopped the rot in frame five with a well-taken run of 74.
Murphy responded with a break of 74 of his own to reestablish his two frame advantage and then won two of the next three frames of the session to lead 6-3 at the break, a huge steal in frame eight proving a big turning point in the match after Allen had broken down on 61.
That could be a big steal!@Magician147 punishes a missed green by Mark Allen and he is guaranteed to lead going into tonight. He now holds a 5-3 advantage with one frame left in the session.
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) September 13, 2019
Watch it live on @Eurosport_UK #ShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/8NlEU8qoMh
That body blow appeared to leave its mark on Allen and Murphy resumed in typically confident fashion, getting the evening session under way with a run of 64 before compiling a break of 80 a few minutes later to extend his lead to 8-3.
Another closely-contested frame in frame 12 again went the way of Murphy as he stepped in with a break of 61 to put himself within touching distance of victory and he finished the match in style, wrapping up proceedings with a fabulous century break (104).
Murphy will face either Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson in Sunday's final.
Semi-finals
Friday 13 September
- Shaun Murphy 10-3 Mark Allen
Saturday 14 September
- Ronnie O'Sullivan v Neil Robertson
Final
Sunday 15 September
- To be decided v To be decided
