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Shaun Murphy was left devastated after Wu Yize kept his composure to win the world snooker championship in a historic final at the Crucible. The 22-year-old produced a match-winning break of 85 to win 18-17 to become the second youngest champion of the modern era and scoop the £500K prize money.

Murphy, who had been aiming to set a new record for the longest gap between a player's first and second world titles, produced some wonderful breaks of his own with an 82, 65 and a 131. And speaking in his post-match press conference, Murphy admitted he was proud of his performance and reiterated a point he had previously made to the BBC's Hazel Irvine.

He said: "It was a great match, I thought we put on a great show. Wu is one of the most talented players I've ever seen and as I said to Hazel [Irvine] out there - I hate being right about things like this - I said after we played in China a few months ago that he would be world champion. I'm delighted for him, I'm absolutely heartbroken for me."

Before he added:"I couldn't have tried any harder for the whole tournament,' he said. 'I should have lost the first match and then once I found my stride I felt like I played really, really well for the whole tournament, including the final.

"Some of the clearances I made to keep myself in it in the penultimate frame and others to steal. The match had everything.

"I guess people might say I was in first in the decider with a chance, I just lost position early on. But I didn't really do anything wrong. I played the best shots I could play from where the ball's finished. As a snooker player that's really all you can do."