Britain’s Shaun Murphy plays a shot earlier this year. Murphy made a winning start to the defence of his United Kingdom Championship title with a 9-5 victory over Northern Ireland’s Gerard Greene here on Saturday.

Shaun Murphy made a winning start to the defence of his United Kingdom Championship title with a 9-5 victory over Northern Ireland’s Gerard Greene here on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Englishman beat Hong Kong’s Marco Fu 10-9 in a thrilling final last year and now former world champion Murphy is bidding to become only the third player, after snooker greats Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, to successfully defend the sport’s second most important title.

Hendry was the last player to achieve the feat, the Scot taking three straight UK trophies in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Murphy made the only century of his match against Greene in the fifth frame with a break of 101 and could now face China’s Ding Junhui in the second round.

In other matches played to a finish Saturday, Mark Williams had an easier than expected win over fellow former world champion Graeme Dott.

Williams, UK champion in 1999 and 2002, was 6-2 up in their best of 19-frame clash at the end of the first session and Dott, feeling dizzy, decided he was not fit enough to continue.

That meant Williams, UK champion in 1999 and 2002, was automatically awarded a 9-2 victory and the Welshman’s next opponent will be the winner of the match between Fu and Peter Lines.

File photo of Hong Kong’s snooker player Marco Fu, who was beaten by Englishman Shaun Murphy in a thrilling final last year at the United Kingdom Championship.

Dott’s fellow Scot Stephen Maguire beat Michael Holt 9-6 and he will face another Englishman in the second round in either Stuart Bingham, 6-2 ahead, or Joe Perry.

Meanwhile an all-English clash saw Mark King overwhelm Anthony Hamilton 9-2.

China’s Liang Wenbo was just three frames away from a second round spot after building up a 6-2 lead over Wales’s Ryan Day.

That match will be played to a finish on Sunday.

Australia’s Neil Robertson, the reigning Grand Prix champion, rattled off an early contender for highest break of the tournament with a contribution of 137, one of two centuries he made against Tom Ford. (more…)