Shaun Murphy sees Zhao Xintong as the 'best player on the planet' but does not feel he necessarily creates a fear factor around the table. The Magician and the Cyclone begin a mouth-watering World Snooker Championship quarter-final on Tuesday morning.
Murphy's Path to the Quarterfinal
The Englishman edged past Fan Zhengyi in dramatic fashion in his opening round, before demolishing Xiao Guodong 13-3 in the last 16. The defending champion has not produced many fireworks so far, but has done enough to down Liam Highfield and Ding Junhui to keep his hopes of breaking the Crucible curse alive.
Zhao's Dominant Form
Zhao came into the tournament as the form player on the planet, having won the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship since the start of February. After some dominant victories over fellow top players in recent weeks, it looked like the world champion was developing a menacing presence at the table, forcing elite stars to go into their shell against him.
However, Murphy is not so sure about that, saying physicality at the table comes into it and Zhao does not have the presence to instil fear into his opponent.
'I don't know about fear factor. He's not an intimidating person off the table,' said Murphy. 'He doesn't give that air of threat, which some players have. There's almost a physicality to some players where it transcends the table. You feel like, hang on a minute. If it went off here, we could all be in trouble! Xintong doesn't have that. He just seems a genuinely, thoroughly nice kid. Who is super talented at snooker and at the minute, he's the best player on the planet.'
Mesmerising Quality
While he might not be scary, Zhao can have an almost hypnotic quality, with Murphy saying you can be 'mesmerised' watching his seemingly calm, measured walk, while his average shot time is very low.
'He's very difficult obviously,' Murphy told Midnite. 'He's the defending champion, the current world champion, and seems to win when he wants, but Zhao Xintong, for me at the moment, is just so easy on the eye to watch. I love watching him play. He's easy to get a bit mesmerised by, when you're playing him, in all honesty; so in awe of just how easy he makes the game look. Yeah, wonderful player.'
Zhao's Response
Zhao has extended his winning run at the World Championship to 11 matches, but knows he is in for a big test against an in-form Murphy. Asked if he is worried about what the Magician could pull out of his hat, he said: 'Definitely worried! I know how good he is. I know he's a gentleman, long potting, everything is good. I'm in the quarter-final. I just try to enjoy it, not think about Shaun. Hopefully I can be better.'
Historical Context
Murphy's Crucible triumph in 2005 came at a time when the young Zhao was just getting into snooker, watching the hugely important victory for Ding Junhui at the China Open that April on his eighth birthday.
'If I haven't forgotten, I think it was 2005,' Zhao said of Murphy's Sheffield glory. 'I was eight years old. When I was eight years old, I saw him play with Ding many times and I know he's a very good player. He can still play very good snooker. I don't know what will happen in the next round, but I will try my best.'
