Barry Hawkins vs Shaun Murphy Prediction: The end of the road for Hawkins

Barry Hawkins will play Shaun Murphy at York Barbican in the UK Championship quarterfinal stage. The two players have had strong results in their first two games and will hope to qualify for the semis. How will this game unfold?

Barry Hawkins started this tournament with a surprising win over Ronnie O'Sullivan as an underdog and will hope the same repeats in this game. However, the Englishman took on David Gilbert in game two and pulled off a hard-fought 6-5 win. However, with those wins, Barry Hawkins has four consecutive wins, with two coming in the qualification round of this tournament, defeating Wang Yuchen and Allen Burden.

Shaun Murphy's prior encounters to this tournament saw him defeat Chris Wakelin and Matthew Selt in games that ended 4-2 and 6-3. However, in the opener of this tournament, Shaun Murphy defeated Xingtong Zhao, ending 6-5. However, Shaun secured a hard-fought victory over Junhui Ding, ending in a 6-5 win. Heading into this game, Shaun Murphy has six wins and three defeats in his last nine matches. 

Despite Barry Hawkins' recent performances, I do not see him getting things right against Shaun Murphy here. However, there are many things he will have to improve on, especially his struggling performances against tough opponents. No doubt, Barry Hawkins' performances are enticing, and while Shaun Murphy's matches have ended with close scores, a similar outcome is expected.