In the inaugural Shanghai Masters, he was defeated 2–5 by Ian McCulloch in the first round. He reached the final of the 2007 Pot Black tournament, where he was defeated by Ken Doherty. In the Grand Prix, he reached the semi-finals, where he lost 5–6 against Ronnie O'Sullivan, despite an earlier 5–2 lead. Further semi-finals followed at the Northern Ireland Trophy and the UK Championship, where he was defeated on both occasions by Stephen Maguire, 5–6 and 5–9, respectively, making it three consecutive semi-final losses. Before the UK Championship, Murphy was provisionally ranked world number one. He successfully defended his Malta Cup title (that year the tournament was not a ranking event) with a 9–3 victory over Doherty in the final. In the China Open, he defeated Mark Selby 6–3 in the semi-finals—his sixth semi-final appearance in the past seven ranking events—but lost 9–10 to Maguire in the final.