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Wife's threat fails to knock Murphy of his stride
Snooker, 12:51, April 23, 2009 ,
Shaun Murphy said he had to put his personal problems to one side to defeat Andrew Higginson in the World Championship first round.
The 26-year-old world number three, who revealed that his estranged wife Clare had said she might serve him with divorce papers during play at the Crucible in Sheffield, admitted an untimely interruption was on his mind throughout the 10-8 victory.
Murphy, who will now face Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the last 16, also revealed that he appeared to have lost his vocal backing from his nearby hometown of Rotherham in this year's tournament.
"I used to come here as the home boy and with all the home support and that was noticeably not there, which was strange," he said.
"But I'm here to do a job like anyone else and I'm just hopeful I can get on and do my job without being interrupted.
"When I lived here all my allocation of tickets went to the loudest shouters in Rotherham.
"When I used to walk out, the place used to go nuts, because we told the crowd to shout the loudest.
"It was just noticeable that those people weren't there."