All square so far in final

May 3 2009

John Higgins and Shaun Murphy shared the opening eight frames as the Betfred.com World Championship final got under way.

They finished at 4-4 after the first session as the close contest which had been widely predicted looked to be materialising.

Higgins turns 34 on May 18, and victory on Monday would make him the oldest Crucible champion since Dennis Taylor triumphed at the age of 36 in 1985.

He made a bright start with a break of 78 in the opening frame, and further runs of 33, 52 and 43 gave him a 3-0 lead.

But Murphy cut the lead following a break of 58 and made it 3-2 despite giving away 28 points after being put in a tricky snooker in the next frame.

He twice missed all the balls, hit the black on two occasions and also ran the cue ball into the pink. Higgins was left with a chance after Murphy eventually did hit the red, but he could not take it.

Murphy made the most of his opportunity and then produced the first century of the final, 109, which hauled him level at 3-3. That took the total of centuries this year to 81, 13 higher than the previous tournament record.

Murphy won his fourth frame in a row to lead 4-3, the key moment coming when Higgins failed to escape from a snooker on the blue, leaving the white ball behind the black.

After being asked to play from the more difficult new position, Higgins did hit the blue but sent it over the top pocket and Murphy rolled it in before taking the pink to clinch the frame.

Higgins ensured he would not trail going into the evening session by building on a break of 50 to take the eighth frame.