Shaun Murphy vs Haotian Lyu Prediction: A close outcome is expected

On World Championship tournament day 2, Shaun Murphy and Haotian Lyu will battle at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. According to the bookmarkers, Shaun Murphy is favoured to win in this game, while Haotian Lyu comes in as the underdog. 

Shaun Murphy will come into this game hoping for a win as he begins his World Championship title chase. In his last tournament in the World Open, Shaun Murphy made it to the round ⅛ of the tournament, where he lost to Junhui Ding in a game that ended 5-3. However, prior encounters did see Shaun Murphy defeat Joe Perry and Xu Si in games that ended with similar results of 3-5 identical games. However, Shaun Murphy has not been impressive in recent months, as he lost to Xu Si, Barry Pinches, and Judd Trump, earning just two wins in his last six games overall.

Haotian Lyu will enter this game into this tournament, hoping to get a bright start. In the qualification round of this tournament, Haotian Lyu defeated Daniel Wells and Jenson Kendrick in matches that ended 10-8 and 10-7, respectively. Haotian Lyu has won four of his last six games, two others coming against Ashley Carty and Aaron Hill. However, in his losses, Haotian Lyu lost to Jordan Brown and Ronnie O’Sullivan in games that ended 3-4 and 5-2. In the meantime, Haotian Lyu will come into this game as the underdog, and he knows he has to be at his best, approach this game with the best strategy and win.

This is going to be a closer game than it is on paper. At the moment, Shaun Murphy is not at his best even though he is favoured to win. Haotian Lyu, on the other hand, is not trustworthy, and despite his wins in the qualification encounters, he has not found luck against top opponents. While it is tough to back Shaun Murphy to win here, taking 1.5 centuries on him is promising. Also, with Haotian expected to be strong, I expect him to be able to close the odds here.