Judd Trump avoids big shock to battle past Xiao Guodong after pulsating decider in first round of UK Championship
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Updated 15/11/2022 at 18:11 GMT
World No. 3 Judd Trump avoided a big scare with a deciding frame victory over Xiao Guodong in the first round of the UK Championship. Trump looked out of sorts for most of the match, but found a way to get over the line in York. Xiao had several chances and will regret some of the shots he played as the 2019 world champion survived another shock this week at the Barbican.
‘It’s legal but I would not recommend it’ – Xiao plays unusual shot against Trump
Judd Trump battled past Xiao Guodong 6-5 in a pulsating first round match at the UK Championship.
There was never more than one frame to separate the pair throughout the match, which was the longest of the week in York so far.
Trump, who is looking to win a second UK Championship title, was far from his best but dug deep to reach the last 16.
He will play Shaun Murphy or David Gilbert, who play on Tuesday night as the first round approaches its end in York.
Having seen five of the world’s top 10 already eliminated from the tournament, it felt like the 2019 world champion was about to join the list for the majority of the match.
A fluke on the final brown from Xiao gave him the opening frame but Trump hit back with a break of 97 to level things up.
The high standards continued with Xiao, who has reached the fourth round twice at the UK Championship, sinking the first century of the match, scoring 125 to take a 2-1 lead.
Once again, Trump sought a quick response, and though he was stopped in his tracks on 58 he was eventually able to get over the line and head into the interval level.
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Xiao flukes brown to win opening frame against Trump
A lengthy fifth frame followed, with Xiao narrowly leading 52-36 as both players chased a mistake from the other on the final red, and once again, on the brown, after Trump got to within 10 points of his opponent.
In the end, Xiao prevailed following a series of curious decisions from Trump, who opted against a long pot on the brown.
For a third time, Trump responded to level again, with a handy break of 66 bringing an enthralling match all square at 3-3.
He moved ahead for the first time after needing multiple scoring visits in the seventh frame but was out of sorts again in the next which saw both players miss several opportunities by running out of position.
Just as he did earlier in the match, Xiao stole the frame to make it 4-4, which included an unorthodox shot on the yellow. The world No. 34 had a huge chance to make a big break to go within one frame of winning the match, but missed a simple pink.
Trump capitalised with a break of 60 which left Xiao requiring a snooker that he was not able to get.
It looked like Trump was going to get over the line but he missed a routine pink and let Xiao in. This time, the Chinese player took advantage with a brilliant break of 50 under pressure to take the match to a decider.
Xiao went for a very risky four-ball plant but it didn’t work as a red rolled over the bottom left corner to leave Trump in.
Despite some careless misses throughout the match, Trump never looked like missing as he made a break of 88 to survive a big scare.
The other afternoon match saw world No. 12 Jack Lisowski take a comfortable 6-1 win over Xu Si.
He will face Mark Selby or Hossein Vafaei, who play at 19:00 tonight, in the last 16.
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