Ultimately it was Murphy who will have headed back to his dressing room more disappointed, having blown his chance of narrowing the deficit to a single frame following a sloppy break-off shot in the final frame of the afternoon.
Resuming 10-7 behind, Murphy had drawn first blood with a promising break of 77 and looked odds-on to make it 10-9 when he got the snooker he required, only to leave the black dangling over the middle pocket.
Selby duly potted it to re-establish his three-frame lead, but failed to punish Murphy for a poor safety in the next, a missed black of his own giving the 2005 champion the chance to clear the colours and pull back the deficit again.
Shaun Murphy takes slender lead over Mark Selby in World Championship final
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Shaun Murphy roared back to level against Kyren Wilson (Zac Goodwin/PA)
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Shaun Murphy won the final three frames of the morning session to set up a grandstand finish to his World Snooker Championship semi-final against Kyren Wilson.
The fired-up former champion, who trailed 10-4 at one stage in the match, clawed his way back to 12-12 ahead of Saturday evening’s conclusion.
Murphy had punched the air in delight after winning the final two frames of Friday afternoon’s session to haul his deficit back to four frames and give himself hope of a recovery.