WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
CRUCIBLE THEATRE, SHEFFIELD
CRUCIBLE THEATRE, SHEFFIELD
| (5) | John Higgins | 9-18 | Judd Trump | (7) |
2 1-8 125-1 (125), 0-66, 4-139 (135), 45-67, 0-118 (114), 30-64, 28-95 (71), 20-70 (58), 19-85 (70)
3 4-4 113-0 (113), 60-35, 0-101 (101), 0-72 (71), 0-126 (126), 92-16 (67), 79-11 (70), 0-104 (104)
4 0-2 0-94 (94), 1-63 (62)
JUDD TRUMP won his maiden World Snooker title after beating four-time champion John Higgins in a record-breaking century-laden classic at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Trump took only two frames and just over half-an-hour yesterday evening to seal victory after one of the most dominant performances ever seen at the famous old venue.
In fairness, in the early stages of the Final, it had not looked anywhere near as clear-cut as it eventually became.
The contest was a re-match of the 2011 Final which Higgins won 18-15 - and the first session on Sunday afternoon was pure quality from both players as they shared the eight frames and made two centuries each.
Trump settled better initially, taking the first two frames before Higgins fought back with a 139 break.
Bristolian Trump immediately bit back with a century of his own to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval but then Higgins produced a run of three frames on the bounce to appear to turn the match in his favour at 4-3.
The seventh frame featured a fine contribution of 101 from the Scotsman - but, for the second time, Trump responded immediately with a century of his own to make it 4-4 after the first session.
It always looked likely, therefore, that the second session was going to be a key phase of the match - and Higgins seemed to take that message on board.
The Wizard from Wishaw produced some magic to knock in a 125 break and take his fourth frame out of five to lead 5-4.
Trump, however, again responded brilliantly. Having run out of position, the Ace came up with the pot of the tournament by rocketing in a red with a deep screw to set himself up for the 10th frame.
In the 11th frame, Trump compiled a 135 break, considered by some to be the best they had ever seen - and, suddenly, he had regained the lead at 6-5.
It was the early in the contest but it was also the decisive point of the match. For, from that point onwards, Trump played not only with the utmost confidence but also with consummate professionalism.
Barely offering even a sniff of a chance to Higgins with perhaps the tightest safety play he has ever produced, Trump was regularly in position to take advantage of any sort of slip-up by his opponent.
By the end of the second session, breaks of 114, 71, 58, and 70 from Trump had helped him win eight consecutive frames and establish a 12-5 overnight lead.
Heading into day two, it felt then as if Higgins's only chance was the fact that Trump had to sleep on his big lead and upon the prospect of becoming a world champion for the first time.
To suggest it started well in the third session for the Wizard would be quite an understatement as he quickly went about his business by potting 14 reds and 14 blacks in an audacious 147 bid.
Unfortunately for Higgins, the final red was glued to the side cushion.
But, amazingly, the chance was not over after the 43-year-old doubled the red into the corner and found himself in a good position on the black. Inevitably, he missed the colour off the spot and the chance had indeed gone.
Trump - to his credit - had not dropped away from his own extraordinary standard either - and, retaining a determined poker face throughout, the 29-year-old never looked like panicking.
Instead, Trump took the next the next three frames to extend his lead to an eight-frame advantage at 15-7 either side of the afternoon mid-session interval.
Further runs of 101 and 126 brought the century count up a total of 10 in a Crucible final, an amount which clearly beat the record of eight set by Stephen Hendry and Peter Ebdon in 2002, and Ronnie O'Sullivan and Barry Hawkins in 2013.
It also made it 99 tons for the tournament as a whole, far in excess of the previous record of 86, set in 2015 and 2016.
Seriously, this was unmissable high quality stuff from both players and breaks of 67 and 70 were enough to keep Higgins just about in with a shout of making an unlikely comeback.
But Trump snuffed out any chance of that by launching a maximum bid of his own in the final frame of the play in the afternoon.
Again, this was not just a minor chance of a 147 - in fact, for a while, it looked on - but, unfortunately for Trump, he broke down on 104 after 13 reds and 13 blacks.
Nevertheless, the 104 became a landmark moment at the Crucible in that it was the 100th century of the tournament - a remarkable ton of tons.
Far more importantly to Trump, though, was the fact that he had retained his overnight lead of seven frames by squaring the session, and so needed just two more for victory.
At this stage, Higgins perhaps was just happy to have actually forced the match into a fourth session - and he later graciously admitted considered himself as "the lucky one" in the arena as he had not had to pay for a ticket.
For sure, it would be fair to suggest Higgins still lived up to his granite reputation and fought tooth and nail throughout as he lost in the Crucible Final for a third year in a row.
And, following defeats to Mark Selby and Mark Williams in the last two years, one more Trump surge was too much to handle.
At 7.32pm last night, the Final was over. Trump had won 18-9 and so deservedly became the 21st man in modern era to become world snooker champion.
It was the biggest margin of victory since Higgins himself had beaten Shaun Murphy by the same scoreline in 2009.
Meanwhile, Trump also became just the 11th man to win the Triple Crown of the World Championship, UK Championship, and the Masters having won the latter this year in January.
It is this glorious performance more than any other which has really made those in the know forecast even more success for Trump in the coming years.
Seven-time champion Hendry - who dominated the sport in the 1990s - has suggested that the snooker world may have to get used to a new "era of dominance from one player".
Elsewhere, five-time winner O'Sullivan - who exited this year's tournament in a shock first round defeat to amateur James Cahill - said Trump's performance had taken the sport "to another level".
That comment is a far cry from the Rocket's stinging criticism of Trump's game in his 2014 autobiography Running.
Back then, O'Sullivan wrote: "Sometimes I think [Trump] lacks the killer instinct.
"He seems as if he's just happy to be there - he's got a bit of money, enjoys the lifestyle, wins a few matches and the odd tournament, but what he really should be doing is trying to write his way into the history books.
In fairness to O'Sullivan, though, that assessment was pretty reasonable at the time - and Trump is now the first to admit his game needed a lot of work after he burst onto the scene.
"The concentration that hasn’t been there in the past was there,” Trump said last night. “From a young age, people have been touting me as a future world champion and it’s nice to get that out of the way.”
Never again will Trump be asked if he is ever going to achieve his dream. Instead, it is now just a question of quite how much he can achieve.
For now, though, Trump deserves to bask in the glory of his status as a first-time world champion following his efforts of the past two weeks.
And, of course, there is also the not insignificant matter of £500,000 in prize money.
“Not yet,” Trump replied when asked if he had already decided what he was going to spend his winnings on. “But when it hits my bank account, I think I’ll go a bit wild.”
WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019
THE FULL RESULTS
THE FULL RESULTS
FIRST ROUND Best of 19 frames
| (1) | Mark Williams | 10-7 | Martin Gould | |||
| (16) | David Gilbert | 10-7 | Joe Perry | |||
| (9) | Barry Hawkins | 10-1 | Li Hang | |||
| (8) | Kyren Wilson | 10-4 | Scott Donaldson | |||
| (5) | John Higgins | 10-7 | Mark Davis | |||
| (12) | Stuart Bingham | 10-9 | Graeme Dott | |||
| (13) | Shaun Murphy | 10-0 | Luo Honghao | |||
| (4) | Neil Robertson | 10-1 | Michael Georgiou | |||
| (3) | Mark Selby | 10-7 | Zhao Xintong | |||
| (14) | Luca Brecel | 9-10 | Gary Wilson | |||
| (11) | Jack Lisowski | 6-10 | Ali Carter | |||
| (6) | Mark Allen | 7-10 | Zhou Yuelong | |||
| (7) | Judd Trump | 10-9 | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | |||
| (10) | Ding Junhui | 10-7 | Anthony McGill | |||
| (15) | Stephen Maguire | 10-9 | Tian Pengfei | |||
| (2) | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 8-10 | James Cahill (a) |
SECOND ROUND Best of 25 frames
| (1) | Mark Williams | 9-13 | David Gilbert | (16) | ||
| (9) | Barry Hawkins | 11-13 | Kyren Wilson | (8) | ||
| (5) | John Higgins | 13-11 | Stuart Bingham | (12) | ||
| (13) | Shaun Murphy | 6-13 | Neil Robertson | (4) | ||
| (3) | Mark Selby | 10-13 | Gary Wilson | |||
| Ali Carter | 13-9 | Zhou Yuelong | ||||
| (7) | Judd Trump | 13-9 | Ding Junhui | (10) | ||
| (15) | Stephen Maguire | 13-12 | James Cahill (a) |
QUARTER FINALS Best of 25 frames
| (16) | David Gilbert | 13-8 | Kyren Wilson | (8) | ||
| (5) | John Higgins | 13-10 | Neil Robertson | (4) | ||
| Gary Wilson | 13-9 | Ali Carter | ||||
| (7) | Judd Trump | 13-6 | Stephen Maguire | (15) |
SEMI FINALS Best of 33 frames
| (16) | David Gilbert | 16-17 | John Higgins | (5) | ||
| Gary Wilson | 11-17 | Judd Trump | (7) |
CENTURY BREAKS 100
143 John Higgins
141 Judd Trump
140 Gary Wilson
139 David Gilbert, John Higgins (2)
138 Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson
137 Barry Hawkins
136 Joe Perry, Barry Hawkins
135 John Higgins, Ali Carter, Judd Trump
134 Ding Junhui, Gary Wilson (2)
132 John Higgins (2), Kyren Wilson
131 Luca Brecel, Stephen Maguire, Mark Selby (2), Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump
130 Barry Hawkins, John Higgins
129 Mark Williams, Ding Junhui
128 Ali Carter
127 Neil Robertson
126 Judd Trump
125 Stephen Maguire, Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert, John Higgins
124 Jack Lisowski
123 Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump
122 Stephen Maguire
121 Stephen Maguire
120 Neil Robertson (2), Mark Selby
117 Gary Wilson
115 Gary Wilson
114 Graeme Dott, Neil Robertson, Judd Trump
113 David Gilbert, John Higgins
112 Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham
111 Kyren Wilson
110 Stephen Maguire
109 Shaun Murphy, David Gilbert, Gary Wilson
107 Stuart Bingham
106 Gary Wilson, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham, Zhou Yuelong, Judd Trump
105 Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams, Zhou Yuelong, Barry Hawkins, David Gilbert, Judd Trump
104 Tian Pengfei, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump
103 Stephen Maguire, Judd Trump (2)
102 Shaun Murphy, Mark Selby, David Gilbert, Ali Carter
101 Shaun Murphy, Zhou Yuelong, Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams, James Cahill, Judd Trump (2), John Higgins (2)
100 Neil Robertson, Tian Pengfei, John Higgins, Kyren Wilson, Gary Wilson, David Gilbert
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