Judd Trump digs in to beat Xiao Guodong, sets up World Grand Prix semi-final clash with Shaun Murphy
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Updated 20/01/2023 at 16:23 GMT
The prospect of winning two titles in seven days remains a distinct possibility for Judd Trump, who saw off Xiao Guodong in the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix in Cheltenham on Friday afternoon. He will return to the Centaur on Saturday for his semi-final clash. Stream top snooker action including the 2023 Shoot Out on Eurosport and discovery+
'I’ve never missed so many easy balls' – Trump surprised with Masters victory
Judd Trump went through the gears to claim a 5-3 win over Xiao Guodong to book his place in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix.
On the back of his win at the Masters on Sunday, Trump is looking to go back to back in Cheltenham this week.
As at the Alexandra Palace, Trump was a level or two below his best but he had enough in the tank to repel the challenge of Guodong.
Trump will be back later on Saturday for his 53rd ranking semi-final, with Shaun Murphy his opponent following his 5-4 win over Anthony McGill.
Trump had a chance to steal the opener, but missed two goes at the green and then coughed up the pink over the bottom left - from an admittedly excellent safety from Guodong.
While Trump passed up a chance to take the opener, he did not look a gift horse in the mouth for a second frame in a row.
After Guodong twice missed frame ball, he was made to pay a price as Trump got in on the final red and picked off the colours to level the match.
Seeing the second frame snatched from his grasp was a blow to Guodong, but he responded with a run of 68 to take the third.
Trump hit back in the fourth, and was on a potential 147 after taking seven reds and seven blacks. He ran out of position and took on an audacious red to keep the break going. It could have proved costly as Guodong began a counter, but he missed a black to allow the two-time winner of the event to draw level at the interval.
Trump got ahead for the first time in the match when taking the fifth, but it was presented to him when Guodong missed a routine red with his break on 43.
Trump countered with a 59 and after breaking down he benefited from an outrageous fluke on the final red. He missed a pot to the green pocket by a distance but it careered into the yellow and went back towards the same pocket and in.
The Masters champion complained during his surge to victory at Alexandra Palace that he had not had his fair share of the run of the balls this term, but he could not complain about that after the fifth frame.
There was nothing fortunate about Trump’s excellent break of 65 in the sixth. The one source of frustration for Trump would be the failure to kill off another frame at one visit, but Guodong’s counter was brief as the hot favourite moved to within one frame of the semi-finals.
The theme of players failing to kill off frames at one visit continued in the seventh, as Guodong crafted a 49 before breaking down. Trump chipped away at the lead, but left the penultimate red over the green pocket and his Chinese opponent closed out the frame to cut the deficit to one.
Trump’s career has been built on jaw-dropping potting and break building.
He is now a brilliant operator in the safety department, and it was a glorious shot that crafted him a match-winning chance in the eighth.
Trump hit a crisp safety, splitting the reds in the process, and brought the cue ball round the angles to drop perfectly behind the brown.
Guodong escaped at the second time of asking, but he left a red on for Trump. He knocked it in and picked off his first one-kill frame of the match - a 117 - to secure the win.
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