Shaun Murphy

D.O.B: 10 Aug 1982
Lives: Sale
Turned Pro: 1998
Ranking Tournament Victories: Four - World Championship 2005, Malta Cup 2007, UK Championship 2008, Players Tour Championship 2011
Highest Tournament Break: 147 B&H Championship 2001

Shaun Murphy played well over 100 matches during the 2010/11 season, and reaped the rewards of his hard work by taking home three trophies.

The season started in the perfect manner for Murphy as he won the invitational Wuxi Classic in China. Up against local favourite Ding Junhui in the final, Murphy made one of the great comebacks in snooker history by coming from 8-2 down to win 9-8. "It's got to be one of my best ever wins, maybe not the best, but in the top three," said Sale-based Murphy. "Even at 8-2 down I never stopped believing that I could win."

His next victory came at the European Players Tour Championship event in Bruges, when he beat Matthew Couch 4-2 in the final. That helped him to top the final PTC Order of Merit and qualify for the Grand Finals in Dublin. And Murphy went on to take the top prize in that event, knocking out the likes of Ricky Walden and Matthew Stevens before an emphatic 4-0 defeat of Martin Gould in the final.

"To win any tournament is fantastic and I'm privileged to win the first PTC Grand Finals," Murphy said. "I've just enjoyed playing as much snooker as we have this season. I said at the start of the PTC series that I thought the standard was going to go through the roof."

Murphy was handed a tough draw in the Betfred.com World Championship, and despite a stunning 10-1 win over Marcus Campbell in the first round, he couldn't get past the last 16, falling 13-10 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The previous season saw Murphy win the Premier League, ending the dominance of O'Sullivan, who had won the event five times in a row, by beating the Rocket 7-3 in the final.

Murphy won the 2008 UK Championship, and became only the tenth player in snooker history to have won both the World and UK titles. He knocked out Martin Gould, Mark Allen, Stephen Lee and Stephen Maguire to reach the final, then got the better of a thriller against Marco Fu, taking a tense deciding frame for a 10-9 victory.

Murphy rewrote snooker's history books with his extraordinary victory at the Crucible in 2005. As the world No 48, he was the lowest ranked player ever to win snooker's biggest title. He was also the second youngest winner, after Stephen Hendry in 1990, and the second ever qualifier, after Terry Griffiths in 1979.

His route to the final took him past Chris Small, John Higgins, Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon then he came from 10-6 down overnight to beat Matthew Stevens 18-16, finishing the match in style with breaks of 97 and 83 in the last two frames. Viewing figures on BBC Sport peaked at 7.8 million.

He was also runner-up at the Crucible in 2009, losing 18-9 to John Higgins.
His other ranking title came at the 2007 Malta Cup when he beat Ryan Day in the final.

At the 2007 Welsh Open, in a first round match against Jamie Cope, Murphy made century breaks in each of the first four frames (135, 123, 102, 101) - the first time that had been achieved in a ranking best-of-nine match.

Recognised as a prodigious talent in his junior days on account of his exceptionally straight cue action, long potting and break-building skills, Murphy won the 2000 B&H Snooker Championship, overcoming Stuart Bingham 9-7 in the final, to earn a wild-card entry to the Masters.

Away from the table, Murphy is a fanatical golfer and plays to a single figure handicap. He enjoys learning languages, reading and music and is an accomplished piano player