Distracted Murphy beats Higginson

Shaun Murphy was relieved his personal life was not played out in public during his World Championship first-round win over Andrew Higginson.

Murphy's estranged wife Clare recently said she might serve him with divorce papers during play at the Crucible.

Asked whether the possible interruption was on his mind, the former world champion said: "Of course it was."

The 26-year-old defeated Higginson 10-8 and will now play Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the last 16.

The world number three used to live with his wife in Rotherham, just six miles from Sheffield, and was well supported by the south Yorkshire crowd in previous years, but Murphy noticed the mood in the Crucible was different during his opening match.

"I used to come here as the home boy and with all the home support and that was noticeably not there, which was strange," he said.

"But I'm here to do a job like anyone else and I'm just hopeful I can get on and do my job without being interrupted.

"When I lived here all my allocation of tickets went to the loudest shouters in Rotherham.

"When I used to walk out, the place used to go nuts, because we told the crowd to shout the loudest.

"It was just noticeable that those people weren't there."

Read in full at the BBC