Judd Trump feels he could be having a very profitable season but for some final frame anguish. The Bristol potter was knocked out the Players Championship in Llandudno by Ronnie O’Sullivan after a 6-5 loss in the semi-finals. Trump played the better snooker through much of the match and, in his own words, ‘was the better player’ but it is the Rocket that lines out against Shaun Murphy in Sunday’s decider. The ‘Ace in the Pack’ made a pair of century breaks (109 and 123) alongside a 74 en route to leading 5-4 but the final two frames saw him register only 25 points.
In the decider, it was Trump that got first bite before disaster struck. After splitting the reds off the black, he got a kick on a break 16. He recovered to pot the next red but the cue ball dropped into a centre pocket. Five-time world champion O’Sullivan rattled in a long red and wasted no time going on to make a match-winning break of 67.
Trump also lost a decider to Kyren Wilson in the Masters semi-final at Alexandra Palace in January and he feels his season could have been a lot different. “I got the balls open in the last frame then I had a kick. That left me awkward and I ended up going in-off. I think I would have gone on to win otherwise, the way the balls were. Anyone in the crowd could have cleared up from there,” he said. “I felt I was the better player but missed a couple of balls when I could have got it over and done with earlier. “Ronnie struggled at the start, his safety wasn’t as good as usual and my long pots were going in. “I didn’t play badly, I felt relaxed and played some good stuff. It’s tough to take. I have had a lot of deciding frames this season and if I had taken my chances I could have won a lot more.”
Trump is 8/1 to win his first World Championship at the Crucible, while O’Sullivan is 3/1 favourite for world crown number six.