Tour Championship 2022: Judd Trump trailing as Luca Brecel holds four-frame lead heading into evening session
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ByEurosport
Updated 31/03/2022 at 14:57 GMT
Judd Trump has work to do in the evening session of his Tour Championship quarter-final match against Luca Brecel, who leads 6-2 after a strong afternoon showing. Breaks of 56, 58, 100, 54 and 78 helped Brecel build a healthy lead over a below-par Trump, who has endured a difficult season so far. The World Championship at the Crucible is just two weeks away.
Judd Trump
Image credit: Getty Images
Luca Brecel holds a healthy 6-2 lead over Judd Trump heading into the evening session of their Tour Championship best-of-19 quarter-final.
With John Higgins awaiting the winner, Scottish Open champion Brecel is well placed to book his spot in the last four, needing just four more frames for victory.
The Belgian made breaks of 56, 58, 100, 54 and 78 to leave Trump trailing in the final ranking event before the World Championship starts on April 16.
The first frame was edgy, lasting over half an hour. Brecel looked set to take control of it until he missed a red when well placed. It handed Trump a great chance to race into a 1-0 lead, but after landing a difficult shot to pot the green, he missed a straightforward effort to sink the brown - the ball sitting on the edge of the pocket - and Brecel took the early advantage.
Brecel started the second frame well, racing to a 63-0 lead, but both players then got involved in an exchange of safety shots, before Trump began his attempt to clear the rest of the table. He started with a solid shot to sink a red, but missed his chance when he failed to pot the black in the centre pocket. Only a big mistake would stop Brecel from wrapping up the frame and he sealed it 91-1 to double his lead.
Trump had not settled and still looked haunted by missing the brown in the opening frame. Again it was Brecel who was in first in the third, which followed a similar pattern to the previous frame as he moved into a 59-0 lead. Trump had a half-chance to get back into it but missed a difficult red, allowing Brecel to once again return to the baize to wrap up the frame.
Trump was out of sorts and Brecel looked virtually unshakeable. The fourth frame felt huge and the world No.3 looked to be showing signs of turning a corner by going 35-0 up in the early stages, before he missed a red.
With Brecel in the form he was in, it looked like he was in again to dominate but a relatively straightforward red rattled the corner pocket, and Trump added to his opponent’s disappointment by sinking the same ball, going on to take a 37-point lead. Brecel failed with a safety, and Trump returned to the table to take the fourth frame and get on the board heading into the mid-session interval.
Brecel was not to be deterred though and he stamped out a revival with a first century break of the match in the fifth frame to take a 4-1 lead, meaning he was guaranteed to go into the evening session level with Trump at the very worst.
Come the next frame Brecel ensured he would have the advantage heading into the evening. Trump could only post 27 before returning to his seat, with Brecel then putting together 54 and winning the subsequent safety exchange when sinking a fine long red.
It was then a case of how big a lead Brecel would hold, and though Trump was still looking out of sorts early in the seventh frame, after a couple of poor positional shots with the reds open, he sunk a crucial long pink to kickstart a valuable 81 break – his first half-century of the day.
In the final frame of the session, Brecel hesitated over a tricky pink but had the confidence to take it on and pot it into middle. He then opened the pack with a fine shot on the black, and a break of 78 was enough to make it a four-frame lead.
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