Headline of the day has to be amateur player Si Jiahui beating former World champion Shaun Murphy.
Day 1 saw 16 matches where some matches in this crazy draw system looked to be very one-sided, or potential banana skins depending on how you view them.
Shaun Murphy slipped up after coming here as fifth seed but apparently carrying a back injury. Murphy wasn’t best pleased at having to play an amateur – as reported on the BBC website.
Although Si Jiahui is currently an amateur, he was on the professional tour for 2 seasons after qualifying from Q School in 2019. Also, he was a runner up in the first Q Tour event at weekend.
Si raced to a 3-0 lead and looked to be about to dump Murphy out 6-1. But last year’s Crucible finalist fought his way back to force a decider. Si held his nerve though and claimed a famous scalp.
Three other amateurs were involved yesterday but they couldn’t emulate Si.
Stephen Maguire 6-3 Sanderson Lam (a)
John Higgins 6-1 Michael Georgiou (a)
Kyren Wilson 6-2 Soheil Vahedi (a)
