Jones stuns Murphy to reach Sheffield last 16

JAMIE JONES, the latest great Welsh hope who has been backed at 1,000-1 for Crucible glory, was 80-1 for the Betfred.comWorld Championship on Monday night after storming into the last 16 with a 10-8 victory over world No. 5 Shaun Murphy.

Murphy, who won in Sheffield as a qualifier in 2005, led 5-4 at the halfway stage and went on to lead 7-5. But Jones, who will meet either Stephen Lee or Andrew Higginson in the
second round, knuckled down to it and the qualifier posted a break of 136 to go with a 134 from the first session.

Matthew Stevens also established an 8-1 lead over Marco Fu in a match that was due to finish on Monday night.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is in to 6-1 as he takes a 7-2 lead over Peter Ebdon into their second session on Tuesday afternoon, while Stephen Maguire is 10-1 for the title after beating 17-year-old Luca Brecel 10-5.