Shaun Murphy 0-3 Wu Yize (11-0) I thought Wu may start slowly given the physical and emotional energy he’ll have dumped playing till late last evening, and he’s not at maximum power yet. But he’s built a handy lead, and now Shaun must break-off knowing his last effort went very wrong. This time, though, he catches it nicely and, when Wu fouls seeking to escape a snooker, he leaves absolutely loads.

“I remember not so long ago Shaun Murphy suggested we bin off the option of playing for snookers,” writes Darrien Bold, “yet here he is going at it for the best part of half an hour. The Peter Ebdon influence perhaps?”

Possibly; let’s hope he doesn’t move from snooker-seeking to 9/11 conspiracies, though I’d love to see him with a ponytail.

Shaun Murphy 0-3 Wu Yize Shaun’s been chasing a snooker for half an hour now but then Wu gets one, and that’s the frame; Il Mago could really use the next, the last of the mini-sesh. I doubt we see many more like this one was.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (48-67) Shaun’s running out of balls, sinking brown and still seeking a snooker. He’s going to pour everything into this match.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (44-67) Shaun feels the green runs off the straight, spreading arms wide in exculpation and aggravation, then he pots it and the chase for the brown – and a snooker – begins.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (41-67) It’s Shaun in next and he tries for a snooker on the green, not quite getting it, but Wu is struggling to force this frame over the line.

“Got to be the The YZA,” says Chris Boyle, “and his fans the Wu Yize Clan?...”

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (31-67) A woman tries to invade the arena, shouting something about not paying for a TV licence – she’s quickly apprehended – then Wu cues a cross a red that would’ve settled the frame. This is intensifying.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (31-67) The snooker comes and Wu’s escape misses; one down, one to go, with the balls nicely arranged for sneaking behind. While Shaun tries, how about Wu “The Scalpel” Yize?

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (27-67) Running out of position, Shaun plays safe, and when Wu misses a pot … he luckily gets cover. The young man is enjoying the run of the balls at the moment and he’s cashing in, offered a starter next go, then sorting a horrible mid-range blue to the yellow bag. He can’t get at the final red, but El Mago now needs two snookers.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (21-61) Wu builds a lead, and I think he may be able to finish this frame without going into the pack; the outermost balls are available. Oh, but as I type, he’s forced to address a cut-back black will necessarily take him into the bunch … and he misses the pot. Chance for Shaun to steal…

“As I read your preamble, begins Craig Murphy, “I was reminded of a wonderful Canadian writer and novelist, who loved snooker so much he travelled to the Crucible for many years, culminating in a wonderful book called ‘On Snooker’. I met Mordecai Richler, whose name you must have already guessed, in Toronto when I lived there more than two decades ago, and had signed copies of On Snooker and Barney’s Version until my ex-wife destroyed my 1,200+ book collection in a fit of pique in the mistaken belief that I had a mistress in Hong Kong.”

In fairness, we’ve all been there.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yize (13-20) Rob Spencer, the ref, admonishes The Knowledgeable Crucible Audience^TM, telling them to make sure all noise-makers are shut off; of course, rapturous applause follows. Shaun played brilliantly in the final session of his match against Zhao and pretty well against John Higgins yesterday, but he’s not got going yet this afternoon. However, when Wu gets close but not close enough to an opener, he has an opportunity to assert, quickly screwing into the pack … landing on nothing easy. Once asked who the best rest-player is, he began by offering the obvious answer, Kyren Wilson, before, in typical style. saying everyone thinks that, but they’re wrong: it’s me. Here, though, he can’t force to right corner, and that, I’m afraid, might cost him.

Shaun Murphy 0-2 Wu Yiz Shaun leaves the pink not far below the brown spot, Wu will attempt the cut from above … and that’s very nicely done, floated into the green pocket.

“Good to have text comms to follow while digging the plot this afternoon, says Dan. Great match up these two. Wu’s surgical strikes don’t always come off - how could they? – but there’s an argument that The Doctor should go in the hat of possible awful nicknames for him.”

I like where you’re going with this so, in similar vein, how about The Surgeon?

Shaun Murphy 0-1 Wu Yize (50-54) Taking the rest to go for a green, seeking to bring the white across the table for that last red, Shaun gets up off the shot when disturbed by a bleep. Then he gets down a second time, position is lovely .. but he misses the pot! Banging the rest down in frustration, not behaviour you generally see from him, which tells us how much he needs this, he stalks back to his seat as Wu gets going. But will he be able to get at the pink, not far off the side? He leaves the white stuck to the jaw of middle, and I don’t think he’s angled, but I also don’t think he’ll take on a pot this difficult, and indeed he does not.

Shaun Murphy 0-1 Wu Yize (43-36) Shaun has his focused phizog on at he mooches about the table, quickly taking the lead. But he’ll need a red down in baulk, not far off the left-side rail, so there’s work yet to do.

Shaun Murphy 0-1 Wu Yize (6-36) Digging too deeply into the white, Wu loses it down the table … so promptly rams to left-centre … only to undercut another minger to corner. He didn’t like that, at all, and no wonder: if Shaun can see away a dead-set plant, he’s in … and he does, so he is.

Shaun Murphy 0-1 Wu Yize (0-15) Shaun’s break-off has been a topic of conjecture this last fortnight – to avoid leaving a shot to nothing at a long ball, he’s been hitting the third red down the side of the triangle, not the bottom or second-bottom one – John Higgins admitted he couldn’t get to grips with it in their semi. This time, though, he absolutely butchers it, claret sprayed all over and a simple ball available to start with. My sense is that, if Wu’s to win, he must do so from the front, making this a really important visit (to the table).

Shaun Murphy 0-1 Wu Yize Wu slides in a long pink, and that’s the lead.

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (50- 66) Shaun removes brown and blue, but must now find a snooker on the pink. aIt does not look likely.

“Is this final an opportunity to establish a nickname for Wu Yize?” wonders my colleague Luke McLaughlin. “I nominate ‘The Hammer’ due to his punishing long potting.”

I can’t believe Rob Walker doesn’t welcome him into the arena with “Enter the Wu”, and I also like that one of the bacronyms for Wu-Tang Clan is “Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game”. Otherwise, though, I’m thinking about it – and please feel free to send in other suggestions.

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (41-66) Wu sinks the yellow, leaving Shaun needing a snooker, and the opportunity soon arises … but it’s missed. We’re now chasing the brown, with blue and pink in decent positions for hiding behind.

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (38-64) Gorgeous longun from Shaun, sent almost the full diag of the table and into the green bag. A black follows, taking him down the table and leaving a cut-back he hopes will restore him to that black … nicely done. A mid-ranger on the final red … stops out, but earns second prize of a snooker, and this is a banger of an opening frame, both men still in it. Wu then escapes, and will Shaun go at a brutal opener? His cue-action has been so good lately, even for him, that I’m sure he will, and he steers home a beauty. We’ve a new favourite for the frame … but a difficult yellow … is missed! Relief for Wu!

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (6-64) Wu does the necessary and the lead will shortly be hi … oh! He overcuts frame-ball to corner, but should still be OK as Shaun needs red-blacks and there are two of the former below the blue spot, one way down in baulk.

“Wu should definitely bring back the mullet he had a few years ago,” recommends Andrew Goudie, and I couldn’t agree more – but he’s had it far more recently.

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (6-24) Running slightly out of position, Wu opts not to take on a hopeful ball – as Fouldsy notes in comms, earlier in the tournament he might have gone after that, but during it, he’s matured into an even better player than previously. And he’s soon back at the table, snicking a right skinny one into left corner after Shaun gets close floating towards it from centre. A nasty mid-ranger is dispatched like it’s nothing and, though the chance requires work, if he removes reds in the correct order, I don’t think he’ll need to go into the pack.

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Wu Yize (6-5) So who had this as their predicted final, then? Well, not me. Off Wu’s break, Shaun punishes a starter into the right corner, then snuggles up to the green; the first roll-up, into the pack, falls short, but the second hits. Shortly afterwards, he flows him a second delightful opener and this time, overcuts a simple blue to middle; he’ll not be happy with that, and also leaves an opportunity for Wu.

Wu to break…

Also going on:

Now that you don’t ask: I’m picking Shaun and I’ll be delighted for him if he wins, but I’d love it to be Wu.

Rob Walker puts on that voice and words tumble out; we notice him. The arena goes mad welcoming our two pilgrims, Murphy posing on a plinth and waving to the crowd; but of course he does.

Oh man, it’s time. Two afternoons and two evenings oF pure, uncut, unadulterated pleasure and joy. Here we go!

Big decision: which channel to watch on? The analysis on TNT is, for my money, significantly more sophisticated than what we get on BBC – though Stephen Hendry is brilliant – but the BBC is the BBC. I think I’ll start trying both and see how we go.

On which point, a thought for Mark Allen. If he never wins this competition, the events last evening will haunt the nightmares of his unborn grandchildren, but make no mistake: he is a champion, and he’ll be back.

As for Wu, I’d be staggered if he ends his career without winning this event more than once. I’d be lying if I said he isn’t my favourite – the way he plays, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him. He attacks the game in the way we should all attack life, however trepidatious we feel, and if it doesn’t work out, he quickly gets over himself, heals, then has at it again. Mates: if ever you’re stuck, think Wu.

Shaun, of course, won this title unseeded, aged just 22, in 2005. Since then, he’s lost four finals, but he’ll fancy himself – ok, he almost always fancies himself – this time around. Already a triple crown champion, he knows that if he can add a second one of these, he’ll ascend another level in the annals of the game, not quite up there on tier two with your Selbzeseses, Williamseseseses and Hingginses of this world, but above pretty much everyone else.