TNT Sports
Northern Ireland Open 2023: Judd Trump beats Jenson Kendrick, Neil Robertson overcomes score malfunction and Wu Yize
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Published 22/10/2023 at 14:49 GMT+1
Judd Trump was far from his best, but did enough to beat Jenson Kendrick 4-1 to progress into the orthern Ireland second round. Earlier on Sunday, Neil Robertson beat Wu Yize by the same scoreline, overcoming the scoreboard disruption in Belfast to secure a 4-1 win. He will meet Jordan Brown in the next round, while Trump faces Julien Leclercq.
Scoreboard problems disrupt Robertson-Wu first round match
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Judd Trump secured his place in round two with a 4-1 win over Jenson Kendrick, despite not reaching his usual high standards in this tetchy encounter.
Trump moved into a 45-point lead in the first frame, before missing a double red to mid pocket. Despite its awkward position, Kendrick seized the opportunity and produced a superb clearance of 90 to move 1-0 ahead.
The world No.3 restored parity in very scrappy circumstances, with momentum in a tense safety exchange ultimately going his way, when a red inadvertently ricocheted off a baulk colour to leave the rest of the balls ideally positioned.
He was left with an easy yellow to pot and mopped up the colours to the black, but Kendrick was more than holding his own in what was a visibly tricky frame for Trump.
Kendrick then missed a gettable red to the bottom pocket in frame three, after Trump left the table with a break of 55.
He would return to the table to dispatch that, and followed this up with the black to seal the frame and a 2-1 lead, after only needing a comparably modest clearance of 30 on this occasion.
Trump had done enough to increase his advantage at 3-1 barring a couple of snookers, with a 58-point lead and only 51 left on the table.
Kendrick was unable to get them and Trump potted up to the pink and move within a frame of victory.
After a performance that was far from his best, Trump was ending the match with a flourish and a maximum break looked like a possibility.
After a sublime run of 24 pots, he missed the double and was denied a 147, but a break of 96 was an ideal way to finish the match.
It capped off a solid day’s work in some style, and he can now look forward to a second-round meeting with Julien Leclercq.
Robertson overcomes Wu
Neil Robertson claimed a 4-1 win over Wu Yize earlier on Sunday, to advance into the second round of the Northern Ireland Open.
The Australian had to keep track of the scores using a manual scoreboard after the electronic one faltered and cope with movement in the crowd, but got the job done to progress.
After Robertson drew first blood in the contest, Wu responded superbly with a clearance of 84 to level the scores when Robertson missed a red to the middle pocket.
The Chinese player looked to be motoring on in the third frame, but missed a green to the top pocket and allowed Robertson back in.
He made his first half-century of the match after clearing the remaining reds and the rest of the table with a clearance of 69 to move into a 2-1 lead.
However, a troublesome red to the middle pocket in the next frame allowed Wu to the table and gave him an opportunity to restore parity.
Wu was off the mark with a blue-red combination, before being thwarted by a black to the bottom pocket.
The Australian returned to pot that black and amassed a break of 22, before leaving the cue ball awkwardly placed on the bottom cushion.
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'What a shot!' - Robertson delights with sensational pot
Video credit: TNT Sports
Robertson showed his shot-making though, dropping a beautiful long red before constructing a break of 46 to move 3-1 ahead.
The world No. 6 did not start the next frame in ideal fashion after overcutting the red, as a safety battle ensued.
Wu had the first look at constructing a frame-winning contribution but fell short, missing a red to the top pocket as he edged towards a half century.
Robertson took his chance, clearing up the black and sealed the match.
He will face Jordan Brown in the second round on Monday.
WILSON AND DAY FALL IN BELFAST
Elsewhere, Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day were the two latest seeds to crash out of the opening round of the Northern Ireland Open.
Both were edged out by a single frame in tight affairs, with Wilson, the English sixth seed, losing to compatriot Sam Craigie 4-3 in a topsy-turvy game.
Wilson started the first frame superbly, but Craigie found his rhythm in the second and a tight third frame to snatch the lead.
Wilson gave it all he had, winning the fourth and sixth frames in dominant fashion, but it was Craigie who held his nerve where it mattered, to book his place in the second round, where he will face Hammad Miah.
Day, the Welsh no. 12 seed, was also beaten 4-3 by China's Ma Hailong.
Ma raced into a two-frame lead, but Day hauled himself back level in the third and fourth.
Ma reclaimed his lead in the fifth, but Day broke 50 for the first time in the match in the sixth frame to level once more.
Ma pulled out some of his best snooker to rack up 78 points in the final frame to take the victory, and advance into the second round, where he will face Martin O'Donnell.
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