Friday, December 6, 2024

UK Championship: Kyren Wilson sets up semi-final meeting with Judd Trump

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Trump, whose only title in this Triple Crown event came in 2011, opened up with an 89 break to win the first frame in less than 10 minutes.

He continued in the same vein with exhilarating breaks of 126, 120 and 131 in a rampant performance to lead 4-0 at the mid-session interval.

Having reached 527 points without reply in the fifth frame, Trump looked on course to eclipse Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record of 556, set in 2014 against Ricky Walden, before missing a red to the right corner on 61.

Zhang exuberantly celebrated finally potting a ball but Trump still won the frame and, although his opponent took the next two, the Englishman then sealed victory with his fourth century of the match.

And having played down suggestions he is the favourite to win this year’s event, Trump’s performance against Zhang only underlined that he is the man to beat.

Zhang’s opportunities to score in the first four frames were restricted to just two attempts at difficult long pots, while his opponent, who has won 29 ranking events, did not look like he was going to miss a shot in an almost flawless five-frame stretch.

“It felt a lot better than yesterday and the day before,” Trump told BBC Sport.

“The first frame is so important for me if I can get in and get into a rhythm and he left me a quite easy chance. I knew my form wasn’t far away and maybe I’ve been too cagey.

“I was more relaxed. As soon as the first frame goes like that I won’t turn anything down. I’m always disappointed to miss a ball. To go 5-0, I was very disappointed with that. One thing I pride myself on is not to miss for a long period of time.”

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