Bingham secured a hard-fought 13-11 win over Lisowski to set up a quarter-final with the Rocket, before Higgins defeated Allen on the black in a deciding frame to win 13-12. Down 62-0 in the final frame, four-time world champion Higgins needed some special shots to defeat the world No. 3 but produced a historic break to advance.
And after a stellar evening of vintage snooker, Murphy took to social media to tease those who want to take the World Championship away from Sheffield. “And some people think we should leave the crucible,” Murphy posted, accompanied with several laughing emojis. “#WorldSnookerChampionship #drama.”
O’Sullivan has been a long-term critic of the Crucible Theatre, having called for snooker’s showpiece to be moved to either Saudi Arabia or China instead, as the Rocket complained at how elite talent is treated.
“I don’t like the Crucible,” he told The Sun. “I don’t think you can get in and out of it. I think definitely it’s a wise decision to take it away from Sheffield. Still have a tournament there. Why not? But just not the world championship over 17 days. It’s a massive circus and you need a massive space to accommodate it.
“I think Saudi Arabia would be great. They’ve got the resources and would do it great. If you’re going to take it to China, you’d have to take it to Shanghai. Or another major city like Shenzhen or Guangzhou.
“It’d be done properly. Courtesy cars will be laid on. Food will be there. Hotels will be great. Everything would be paid for. Prize money would be astronomical. The snooker becomes secondary. What are the facilities like? What’s it like for the fans? What’s the access like? You don’t need a 10 out of 10 venue. But everything else has to be right.”
O’Sullivan’s controversial opinion has split both snooker fans and players, having received support from the likes of Ali Carter and Hossein Vafaei. However, Murphy has been among the many to disagree with the Rocket and snooker supremo Barry Hearn who have led calls to take the World Championship to Asia.
“I don’t want the snooker to leave here,” Murphy said earlier in the tournament. “We shouldn’t have any other event here, the world championship should stay in this building, but it’s economics, it’s our biggest event in our smallest building.
“I don’t think anyone wants to leave apart from Hossein and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Everyone else wants to stay but it can’t stay as it is and something has to give.”
