Five-ton Hawkins trounces Murphy at Tour Championship

Barry Hawkins soared into the Tour Championship quarter-finals after completing a comprehensive 10-1 rout of Shaun Murphy on Monday.

The Hawk produced a scintillating display during the afternoon session at Manchester Central, where he hit five centuries in the space of eight frames.

Hawkins had threatened to better Stephen Hendry’s record for the number of tons in a best-of-19 match, with seven against Ken Doherty in the 1994 UK Championship final.

While he could not quite match the seven-time World champion, a couple of half-centuries got this season’s UK Championship and German Masters finalist over the line and set up a last-eight clash with world number one Judd Trump.

“Definitely up there [in terms of his best career performances]. I can’t play much better than that,” Hawkins told WST.

“It’s a shame I didn’t finish off the match beating Hendry’s record. I came close, but the main thing was to win the match tonight.

“It was hard to top that performance this afternoon. I’m just over the moon. To beat someone like Shaun 10-1 is unheard of really.

“It’s a great feeling. It doesn’t happen that often. It was just one of those days – [especially] this afternoon – where you get in your own little bubble and it becomes easy, and it doesn’t feel like you’re going to miss.

“When that comes along, you try and grab it with both hands. Tonight was the complete opposite. Tonight, I was aware Shaun could do the same to me. The main thing was just to fall over the line.”

The players were meeting in a third successive tournament, with Murphy prevailing when they collided at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship earlier this month.

Yet, Hawkins was quick out of the blocks this time around with back-to-back centuries of 126 and 101, before the Magician responded with 92.

The Hawk then took a close fourth frame on the pink, while further breaks of 132, 131, 79 and 134 put him well in command at 7-1 to the good.

And the four-time ranking event winner ensured there would be no Murphy fightback when the players returned for the evening session, with runs of 57 and 59 completing the rout.

Elsewhere, Ding Junhui established a 5-3 overnight lead against reigning champion Mark Williams.

The two players were meeting for the third time in 2025, and they shared the first six frames, before breaks of 116 and 78 gave the Dragon the advantage ahead of Tuesday’s conclusion.

Meanwhile, the battle of this year’s debutants in Xiao Guodong and Wu Yize is locked at 4-4.

English and Scottish Open finalist Wu had runs of 85 and 72 on the way to a 3-0 lead, but Wuhan Open champion Xiao fought back with contributions of 77 and 62 helping him level things overnight.

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Tour Championship 2025 Scores

Monday March 31

First Round

Shaun Murphy 1-10 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 4-4 Wu Yize
Mark Williams 3-5 Ding Junhui