2015 World Championship (Day 15) - Grand Final welcomes Murphy & Bingham

After two weeks of intensive cue action, drama, laughter, emotions and fighting guts the time has come to get to the last stage of our Crucible journey. And for Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham that means - the Grand Final.

For the blog readers or those of you acquainted with what happens at the 2015 World Championship, it's really no surprise to see Shaun Murphy reaching the final, taking into account the fact that he led Barry Hawkins 6-2, 13-3 and 16-8.

The last session started with a great effort from "The Hawk", a break of 103 winning him a frame, but Murphy was sure to end businesses as soon as possible and cleared the table with an 83 break in frame 26, for a final 17-9 scoreline.

After the match "The Magician" Murphy shared his thoughts about the recent year and remembered his poor form from the past years.

"It was though to see everyone else doing great", said Shaun who admitted that winning the Masters at the beginning of this year was a great boost of confidence.

Although "blown away” by his recent victory over Barry Hawkins, Murphy didn't find any shame it saying that there were times when he didn't believe in himself anymore and that it took a lot of work to "mature" into the person and player that he is today.

On a funnier note though, he refused to reveal what his new outfit will be. Tough cookie this one!

Barry Hawkins stated that tiredness (which is perfectly normal after playing for two weeks) had nothing to do with him losing the semi-final, but rather the fact that his opponent outplayed him.

A very emotional Barry chocked with tears when he tried to thank his manager Paul Mount for everything that he did for him and snooker.

For those of you unaware, Mr Mount waited for the end of his players’ contract (which coincides with the end of the season) to put an official stop to what in my opinion is in fact the end of an era for snooker and those involved in it.

You can find more details about this matter in this interview with Mr Paul Mount conducted by Matt from Pro Snooker Blog.

Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump finished their snooker "quarrel" in the best possible way: through a decider.

Bingham has always been the man in front, ending the first session 5-3 up and continuing with 9-7, but when the third one kicked off it was Trump who started firing pressure shots on his opponent.

Breaks of 61 and 91 proved enough to make the scoreline more appetizing for Judd (9-9), but Stuart was sure to win no less than four frames in a row with runs of 67, 62, 35 and 59 and fly 13-9 up.

A very dramatic frame was the 23rd one which lasted for more than half an hour, Bingham giving an amount of 24 penalty points to his rival who went on and won the frame on the pink.

Trump was also adding another frame to his slightly poor collection in order to close the session the same way that he started it: by being two frames behind (13-11).

The evening came quite quickly and so the boys re-entered into a raucous arena packed with fans hungry for drama and entertainment. Luckily for them, that was on the menu.

Bingham was the first in and managed to extend his lead, but Trump responded with a perfect set of breaks (88, 50 and 44) to win back two consecutive frames.

The 77th century break of the tournament was going to push Stuart 15-13 up, but once again a tenacious Trump replayed by winning the following frame with a break of 76.

It felt like raining with century breaks, especially after Bingham hit an 102 one to go one away from victory, while his opponent developed a powerful counter attack with breaks like 108 and 129! Decider it is then!

Bingham had the first chance but missed the blue early in the frame, Judd coming to the table but quickly missing a red due to a kick. It took Bingham quite some time to close the match, but runs of 27 and 19 did the trick in the end.

All teary and extremely emotional, Stuart Bingham described his victory as "unbelievable" and added that "This is 20 years of blood, sweat and tears".

So this is it snooker lovers! The Grand Final starts this Sunday and by Monday evening we shall be seeing a new … or old champion.

It's been 10 years since Shaun Murphy was crowned world champion and it's been way too many years since Stuart Bingham set his mind to be world champion, so it's a 50/50 chance.

SML blog will like to wish best of luck to both players and … let the fun begin!

2pm 
Shaun Murphy v. Stuart Bingham (1st session) 

7pm 
Shaun Murphy v. Stuart Bingham (2nd session) 

*all hours are UK time