Crestfallen Murphy vows to bounce back after disappointing Masters exit

Murphy's title defence at the Alexandra Palace in London was a short one after being defeated by debutant Wu Yize 6-2 on Sunday afternoon in the opening match of this year's edition.

The world number seven - who claimed his second Masters crown last year after denying Kyren Wilson in the final - never really settled and was out-of-sorts throughout large parts of the tie.

Wu - the youngest player in this year's field at 22 - made a break of 137 en route to a 3-0 lead. Murphy kept in touch by depositing frames four and six, but it was the International Championship title holder Wu who moved through to the quarter-finals after taking the final two frames.

One of this season's star cueists, Murphy's performance was a perplexing one; his highest break of the afternoon was just 43. This from a man who is second on the centuries list for the 2025/26 campaign with 38.

At the end of September, Murphy won the British Open in Cheltenham and followed that up with a run to the final of the Xi'an Grand Prix where his sequence was stopped by Mark Williams who became professional snooker's oldest-ever ranking event champion.

Before Christmas, Murphy reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship.

Murphy says he’ll be “bouncing back soon”

Posting on Monday morning on his Shaun Murphy Snooker Facebook page which has 35,000 followers, the 2005 World Champion put into words his dismay of leaving the £1 million-plus competition so early.

Murphy said: “Disappointed is probably the word I should use, but it doesn’t feel strong enough to portray how crestfallen I am after my match yesterday. Every sportsperson has a bad day in the office every now and then, you just don’t expect it to be at one of the biggest tournaments in the first round as defending champion.

“I was prepped and ready for The Masters, feeling good about my game. No doubt I will go back to the drawing board and work out what happened (besides being out played).

“Thank you to everyone for their support - I’ll be bouncing back soon enough!”

On both occasions Murphy has defended the Masters title he has lost in the first round. Aiming to retain in 2016, he was eliminated 6-4 by Mark Allen.

However, in such an elite event with the world's best for which they say 'every match could be a final', Murphy is in good company.

Since 2019, the defending Masters champion has now lost in the opening round five times - two of those occasions were inflicted by Murphy who defeated Neil Robertson 6-4 in 2023, and Judd Trump 6-3 in 2020.

In 2022, Mark Williams ended the defence of Yan Bingtao 6-4, while Luca Brecel halted Mark Allen's back-to-back challenge in 2019 with a 6-5 victory.

Murphy’s next assignment on the World Snooker Tour is scheduled to be at the Tempodrom in Berlin at the end of this month when he faces Zak Surety in the last 64 of the 2026 German Masters.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Masters, visit here.