Stephen Hendry feels Shaun Murphy will not find it easy to forget about back-to-back heavy defeats ahead of his World Championship challenge this month.
The Magician has had a fine season, winning the Masters in January being the highlight, while he has been impressive enough in ranking events to make it to the 12-man Tour Championship this week in Manchester.
However, his campaign ended unceremoniously as Barry Hawkins hammered him 10-1 on Monday at Manchester Central.
It was a stunning performance from the Hawk in the first session as he opened up a 7-1 lead with five centuries along the way.
Hawkins was sensational and would likely have beaten anybody in that form, although Murphy did make some errors and could have closed the gap at least a little.
Former world champion Ken Doherty suggested it was just a day to eliminate from the memory for Murphy, but Hendry is not so sure it is that easy.
The Magician came up against another stunning display at last month’s Players Championship when he was whitewashed 6-0 by Judd Trump and Hendry believes the back-to-back wallopings will be a big blow to his confidence.
Doherty said: ‘It’s just one of those days to chalk off, forget about it and just look forward to the next one.’
However, the seven-time world champ replied: ‘Ken says forget about it, but the last two tournaments we’ve seen Shaun he’s been beat 6-0 and 10-1.
‘It’s hard to forget about those. He’s got the World Championship coming up, he’s got to really regroup and get that confidence back somehow.’
Murphy was full of praise for his opponent and he certainly has a point when he says he has regularly come up against players hitting peak form in recent months.
‘It’s not the first time this season, when I have come off a match having lost and not felt I have done that much wrong,’ he said. ‘I have known Barry for 35 years and that’s one of the best sessions of snooker I have seen him play.
‘He would have been ahead of anyone this afternoon. I made some mistakes, but he was unplayable.’
Murphy actually went into the game as favourite after beating Hawkins at the recent World Grand Prix and Players Championhip, with the winner admitting his surprise by the result.
‘I wasn’t expecting the scoreline after the first session but I didn’t put a foot wrong in the first session,’ said Hawkins. ‘Tonight was a bit of a comedy of errors and things just went from bad to worse for Shaun.
‘It’s horrible when you’re that far behind and whatever he did went wrong. I managed to fall over the line in the end but I played really well in the first session.
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‘Little bit of revenge I suppose. Shaun’s been playing brilliantly well all season and he’s such a great player. To beat him 10-1 is an unreal scoreline, really.’
Next up for the Hawk is a meeting with world number one Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, in a repeat of their UK Championship final earlier this season, which the world number one won.
‘I’ve just got to have the same mindset and if I can get into that zone again I can do the same to Judd,’ said the Hawk.
‘He has been doing it to everyone, it feels like ten years he has been number one, bashing everyone up. I know what I’ve got to do and hopefully we can have another good game like we did in the UK.’
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