Northern Ireland Open: Judd Trump edges past Ian Burns to reach last 16 in Belfast, Shaun Murphy out
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Updated 26/10/2023 at 17:33 GMT
Judd Trump progressed into his 85th ranking quarter-final with an at times unconvincing 4-2 win over Ian Burns at the Northern Ireland Open. Not much of this contest will make it into the Trump showreel, in what was a complete contrast to his 4-0 whitewash of Justin Leclerq in round three. The world No. 3 will be back in action on Thursday evening when he faces Noppon Saengkham in the last 16.
Trump makes masterful pot to swing momentum in his favour against Burns
Judd Trump laboured his way to a sluggish 4-2 win over Ian Burns to progress into the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open.
Trump produced a ruthlessly dominant display in his 4-0 whitewash win over Justin Leclerq last time out, but did not look entirely happy from the start on Thursday, despite drawing first blood in the contest.
In an opening frame littered with errors, Burns missed a pink before Trump did the same on the yellow. However, the world No. 3 was bailed out by the generous positioning of the reds, and seized the advantage of two more misses from Burns to go 1-0 up.
Trump would double his advantage in a tetchy second frame, as the three-time Northern Ireland Open champion cleared up to the blue while utilising the cue ball to good effect.
The third frame was certainly not one for the purists, as both players surrendered a plethora of penalty points in an increasingly awkward-looking table.
Trump offered another chance for Burns after leaving too thick a contact on the red, which he potted, using the red-black combination effectively on his way to a break of 52 and halving the deficit at 2-1.
Trump looked to be rediscovering something close to his top form with a break of 26 in the next, but an uncharacteristic miss on the black allowed Burns back onto the table.
Burns then overcut a red on at least a couple of occasions, but his most costly error looked to be a mistake on the black to the bottom pocket.
Trump looked to have seized his chance until being thwarted by the green after an hour and a half of playing time in this nervy fourth frame.
After inadvertently potting the cue ball, Burns responded by clearing up to the pink to level the scores and wipe out Trump's lead.
Trump moved onto his highest break of the match in the following frame with a modest 36, before being thwarted by another black to the bottom pocket.
He would return and move to a clearance of 33, and with Burns not liking his chances of getting the three snookers required to win the frame, he subsequently conceded to allow Trump to re-take the lead.
This was a below-par performance from Trump, with a missed blue to the middle pocket another example of his struggles.
Yet again, there was a nasty-looking table on offer with very little in the way of potting opportunities in the sixth and final frame.
After a break of 20, Burns was left needing two snookers, but they never materialised and Trump finally prevailed 4-2 after sinking a long red and clearing up to the black.
Trump will now face Noppon Saengkham on Thursday evening, when he will aim to progress into his 85th ranking quarter-final.
Wakelin topples Murphy to reach quarter-finals
Chris Wakelin pounced on the mistakes of his opponent to claim a 4-2 win over Shaun Murphy and a place in the last eight.
Murphy won a strange opening frame, after surrendering a huge position of strength with his opponent needing snookers.
Wakelin got the snookers, only to inadvertently pot the pink when looking to leave Murphy in a snooker from a free ball.
But in potting the pink, he left himself in a snooker and the failure to escape allowed Murphy to edge ahead.
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‘It’s a crazy old game’ - Murphy wins first frame after Wakelin pots pink by mistake
Wakelin responded with a break of 52 to take the second and should have secured the third, only to go in-off when potting the final red, which allowed Murphy to hoover up the colours to get back in front.
Murphy was virtually flawless against Sean O’Sullivan the previous day, but errors were evident against Wakelin, who pounced on a mistake to take the fourth courtesy of a break of 55.
Much has been made of Murphy’s decision to have three cues on the go. He switched cues after the fourth frame, but it did not stop the rot as he scored only one further point as Wakelin scrapped his way to a 4-2 win.
Wakelin’s reward for toppling Murphy is a meeting with Yuan SiJun who brought an end to Stan Moody’s Northern Ireland Open challenge.
A break of 88 took Moody into the lead at 2-1, but Yuan hit back to advance 4-2.
Perry produces two-ton finish to sink Vafaei
Joe Perry reeled off three frames on the spin to secure a 4-3 win over Hossein Vafaei.
Staring defeat in the face, Perry won an untidy fifth then made consecutive breaks of 122 in frames six and seven to claim the win and a meeting with Stephen Maguire.
Ricky Walden produced runs of 69, 50 and 134 in his 4-1 win over Zihao Xing - and he will await the winner of the clash between Aaron Hill and Jack Lisowski.
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