World Snooker Championship 2024: Judd Trump breezes into quarters with impressive victory over Tom Ford
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Updated 27/04/2024 at 13:20 GMT
2019 world champion Judd Trump breezed into the quarter-finals of the 2024 World Snooker Championship thanks to an emphatic 13-7 victory over Tom Ford in the second round. Trump resumed on Saturday needing just two frames to seal the victory and he did so without needing another interval, moving into the last eight as he bids to win the title for a second time.
'How about that for a pot!' - Trump sinks incredible red off side cushion
Judd Trump wasted no time on Saturday morning, wrapping up a comfortable 13-7 victory over Tom Ford to reach the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship.
Speaking ahead of the day's play, Eurosport's Alan McManus said that Ford would need to "produce the performance of a lifetime" to stop the relentless juggernaut that was Trump.
Ford certainly made a nervy start. He got on the board first in the opening frame of the session with a lovely pot to middle but he followed that up by immediately missing the black and leaving a wide open table.
Trump, the 2019 world champion, couldn't capitalise, missing what for him was a relatively simple blue and once again Ford was presented with chances to have a real stay at the table.
At the third attempt, Ford finally put a break together, sinking 76 to seal the frame and give himself a real confidence booster early on.
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'Long potting has been superb!' - Trump produces outrageous long potting sequence
However, there was another error from Ford in the next after missing a tricky long red and Trump pounced, picking up his second century of the match with a break of 107 (his 78th of the season), to move one away from victory.
Trump had already notched up six half-century breaks as well as a ton in frame nine in the first two sessions.
Trump was in the groove now and even though in the 19th frame his positioning was a bit off, he found creative solutions to his problems with some outrageous potting.
Once again, Ford had a chance due to some small errors from Trump and he took that chance, making Trump wait once more.
But in the 20th frame, Trump wasn't to be denied, getting on the table and making no mistake with an impressive break of 84.
After dispatching Hossein Vafaei with similar ease in the first round, Trump has sent a real message to his rivals for the title.
In the quarters, he will face either Jak Jones or Si Jiahui. The pair will resume their clash in the middle session on Saturday with Jones 9-7 ahead.
It also still leaves the possibility of a blockbuster semi-final against defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
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'What a gorgeous shot!' - Trump develops reds with expert cannon
In the other game in the early session Stephen Maguire took a 10-6 lead over Shaun Murphy in what was an extremely tense and nervy session.
Maguire had won the last two frames on Friday to move 5-3 up and the scrappiness continued in Saturday's session.
Bar Maguire's lovely 97 break in the 11th, things were tight and tetchy which was perfectly exemplified by the 12th frame, which lasted over 30 minutes.
Eventually Murphy sunk a couple of massive pressure pots on the colours to make sure the first session was split.
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'Biggest shot of the match!' - Murphy stays alive with vital clearance
Maguire took the opening frame after the break but Murphy fought back and won two on the bounce, including his highest break of the match in the 14th when he knocked in 66.
An intense safety battle developed at 39-39 in the 15th and it was broken when Murphy accidentally potted the cue ball.
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'He does not want this in!' - Murphy accidentally pots white and Maguire takes frame
That brought Maguire back to the table and despite a couple of tricky pots, he cleared the table and moved to 9-6 up with just one frame left to play in the session.
Murphy was 64-1 up in the final frame and looking good but a catastrophic effort that left the white down the table with an open set of reds saw Maguire steal in to try and take the frame.
But he missed a tricky green to the middle and that brought about another safety battle with Maguire trailing by 16 points.
A huge moment then came when Murphy missed the green, resulting in a free ball because Maguire couldn’t hit both sides of the green.
Watching on commentary for Eurosport, Dominic Dale was in shock saying: "He's missed, oh it's a free ball, worst possible outcome!"
Maguire took a while to make his decision on whether to sink the brown or play a safety but eventually he elected for the former, only to cannon into the blue on the follow through.
The pair traded safeties again and the up-and-down nature of the game was noteworthy, with some exceptional safety play and escape, as well as some sloppy shots.
Eventually it was broken by an outrageous double by Maguire and he then cleared the colours including a hugely impressive long blue to take the final frame of the session and move 10-6 up with one session left.
A pumped-up Maguire celebrated wildly by hitting the table and gesturing to the crowd, a signal that he knew just how important that frame was.
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'What a pot!' - Maguire pots green with double, clears table and celebrates wildly
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