World Grand Prix snooker 2024: Ronnie O'Sullivan comes from 4-0 down to beat Judd Trump for third title
ByOli Gent
Published 21/01/2024 at 22:09 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed a third World Grand Prix title of his glittering career with a superb comeback victory over No. 1 seed Judd Trump at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. The Rocket, who had dispatched Ding Junhui in just 76 minutes in the last four, came back from 4-0 down in the final to demonstrate his class once more on the big stage and continue his hot streak of form.
Ronnie O’Sullivan completed an excellent comeback to claim his third World Grand Prix title with a 10-7 victory over Judd Trump.
O’Sullivan, who came into the final at Leicester’s Morningside Arena having hit four centuries in his 76-minute semi-final demolition of Ding Junhui, recovered from a poor opening few frames to assert his dominance and seize the crown.
Trump arrived in his fifth Grand Prix final in decent form too, as the No. 1 seed saw off Cao Yupeng in the last four, but despite a decent start, the Bristolian was not able to live with The Rocket’s evening-session brilliance.
A long red, followed by a 74 break forced O’Sullivan, who needed two snookers, to neglect to come to the table, giving Trump the perfect start in the afternoon session by taking the first frame.
After building a solid 62 tally in the second, a frame-ball miss gave O’Sullivan a chance to gain a foothold in the early exchanges, but an uncharacteristic miss from The Rocket, hitting the far jaw of the middle pocket, teed his opponent up for a two-frame lead. Trump duly accepted the invitation, building a quick 40 break to do so.
A long bout of safety balls from both sides gave the third frame a nervy feel, but a fantastic red to the left corner from Trump meant that the top seed had his tail up once more, working through the colours to bring up a 3-0 lead, before a run of 59 in the fourth had him sailing towards victory at the afternoon interval.
It was not until the fifth that O’Sullivan finally got on the board, with in-offs proving to be both players’ sticking points in the early frames.
The two-time champion screwed the cue ball in off a red that he had potted in the bottom left at 38-0, but Trump could only answer with a couple of reds before O'Sullivan sealed the deal to get his name on the scoreboard.
A run of 54 was swiftly ended by a simple miss on a red at the start of the sixth, but both players missed easy one-pointers, but O’Sullivan swiftly served up a 63 to halve the deficit.
Trump regained his composure in the seventh with a break of 40, and a poor shot from The Rocket allowed the his opponent to build on his 40 with a further 61 for a 5-2 lead.
The final frame of the afternoon session was poised nicely at 33-33 with misses from both players, but it was O’Sullivan who added one final strike to his tally before the break, with a run of 63 leaving him within two at the halfway stage.
Trump made a solid start in the evening, as a ball left in the jaws by O’Sullivan gave The Ace in the Pack a chance to open up a decent break. He did so with a 66, but lost his position on frame ball.
An O’Sullivan miss on the brown was gobbled up by Trump, who restored his three-frame lead at the start of the evening session, but The Rocket was within two once with a 56 flourish at the end of the 10th, and a further 74 in frame 11 had him on Trump’s tail.
He levelled proceedings not long after, as Trump wasted a decent 57 break to leave O’Sullivan with a chance to clear after the final red, which he duly did to go in at the interval on level terms.
The Rocket, as he often does, found a way to edge ahead in the 13th, starting with a beautiful long pot, but a poor positional shot saw his 52 break end abruptly. It did not matter, though, with Trump not scoring a point the whole frame, as O’Sullivan seized the initiative for the first time.
A strong 51 start was ended by a routine red miss from O’Sullivan, but despite some recovery from Trump - in quite brilliant fashion to get himself back in touch with 48 - he left a ball in the jaws as O’Sullivan worked up a two-frame advantage.
A topsy-turvy 15th frame saw a huge brown from Trump stopped in the jaws, which O’Sullivan potted to go one frame from victory.
The drama was not done, with Trump showing great determination to bring up a 70 break to add some spice to the dying embers.
But it was O’Sullivan, inevitably, who took this one, working up a half-century before clearing up the colours for his third Grand Prix crown.
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