Shaun Murphy facing tough start against Zhao Xintong at UK Championship

Shaun Murphy faces one of the toughest possible starts if he is to realise his ambition of joining an exclusive club of multiple ‘triple crown’ title winners when the UK Snooker Championship kicks off in York on Saturday.

The Sheffield 42-year-old has won one each of the three biggest tournaments over the course of his career but admitted he would feel like he had not fulfilled his potential if he finishes without managing to add to that tally.

Murphy has been drawn against former winner Zhao Xintong, who has swept through four qualifying rounds as an amateur invitee having recently returned from a two-year ban for his indirect involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

Their clash caps a mouthwatering Saturday afternoon session in which eight-time and defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is also in action against former world finalist Barry Hawkins.

Murphy said: “I think if I end my career with only one each of those three tournaments I will be slightly disappointed.

“I feel like perhaps I should have more to show for things to this point. I’ve got plenty of years left, but you’d want to be winning a few of these events soon.

“I think there’s a special place in the sport’s history for multiple winners of these tournaments. It’s another opportunity for me to join that club and I’ll give it my best shot.”

Murphy will have to break an alarming run of form in York, having lost in the first round in four of the last six years, and comes up against an opponent who has seized his second chance to make an impression in the sport.

Zhao, who won the title as a shock outsider in 2021, secured his spot in the qualifiers after winning two Q Tour titles in Manchester and Sweden, making two maximum breaks in the process, as he looks to regain his full-time tour card.

Another player looking to improve his roster of ‘triple crown’ titles is world champion Kyren Wilson, who heads to York having built on his Crucible success by winning two ranking titles already this season.

But like Murphy, Wilson will have to do it the hard way when he gets his campaign underway on Monday as he also prepares to meet a former winner in 2004 champion Stephen Maguire.

“I think there’s always a bit of added pressure with the ‘triple crown’ events because obviously they come around once a year and they’re so prestigious, everybody wants to make them count so everybody tries a little bit harder and deep down wants to win these a little bit more than the others,” said Wilson.

“I think it’s about patience and resilience. Sometimes you have to go back to basics a little bit and just sort of chill out.

“I don’t take things as much to heart and I believe in the process nowadays. Perhaps in the past I might have said I believed I could do this or win this and there might have been a niggling doubt in the back of my mind.

“But now that I’ve ticked off that world title and gone on to beat the very best and perform at a high consistent level, all that has completely gone and I really believe in some of the statements I’m coming out with.”