Judd Trump hits back to win thriller with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Mark Allen latest seed to crash out

ByEurosport

Updated 24/04/2019 at 21:40 GMT

Masters champion Judd Trump survived a huge scare in the World Championship first round to edge out world number 43 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-9.

Judd Trump lines up a shot against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the opening round of the world snooker championship at Crucible Theatre on April 23, 2019 in Sheffield, England.

Image credit: Getty Images

Trump - joint-favourite for the tournament and £500,000 first prize alongside Neil Robertson after Ronnie O'Sullivan's exit on Monday - had battled his way back from trailing 6-3 overnight at the Crucible Theatre to lead 9-8 with breaks of 82, 62 and 68 carrying him 9-8 clear in an absorbing second session.

But Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made 50, 69 and 78 in the penultimate frame to force the decider which Trump won boosted by a brilliant cross double red having trailing 26-0 in the decider and looking in all sorts of trouble at the Sheffield venue.

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A timely safety shot late in the frame enabled Trump to leave the Thai player needing snookers after a miscue and reflecting on a match he will feel could easily have fell his way with both players having chances.

Trump will face 2016 finalist Ding Junhui in the last 16.

Later on Mark Allen became the third seed to crash out in the first round as he was beaten 10-7 by Zhou Yuelong.

Zhou led 7-2 overnight and he looked to be set to wrap up victory quickly when he took the first two frames of the session including an opening break of 70.

However former Masters champion Allen refused to lie down and he rattled off an impressive five frames in a row to pull to within two of his opponent.

That run included breaks of 68, 60, 72 and 131.

However it was all in vain as Zhou won an extremely tense 17th frame to secure his passage into the second round.

He will face either Jack Lisowski or Ali Carter. The pair are currently involved in a tense match with the latter leading 5-4.

They exchanged the opening four frames in the evening session before Carter was finally able to open up a two-frame cushion.

He moved to 5-3 and fought back in the eighth to force a re-spotted black but Lisowski took that frame and then won the final frame of the session to reduce the deficit to one.

On the other table in the afternoon session Kyren Wilson dominated the early session of his match against Scott Donaldson as he opened up a 6-2 lead.

Wilson won the first three frames, including a break of 100, before Donaldson finally got on the board.

Wilson was able to take advantage of any mistakes from his opponent and is now only four frames away from the second round.

The winner of that match will face Barry Hawkins in the second round after he sealed a comfortable 10-1 victory over Li Hang.

Leading 8-1 coming into the session on Wednesday evening Hawkins only needed two frames to wrap up his win.

FIRST SESSION

Judd Trump finds himself in a fight to stay alive against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh after falling 6-3 behind in their first session.

Trump produced a sparkling run of 141 in the fifth frame, but the Thai qualifier is in the driving seat as he made runs of 69, 60 and 54 to establish a three-frame cushion, including winning the final two frames.