Snooker Victorian Plumbing UK Championship

UK Championship 2024: Judd Trump edges John Higgins in final-frame decider to reach quarter-finals, will face Zhang Anda

Judd Trump got the better of a battle with John Higgins to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship. It was a contest that took time to spring into life, but Trump closed it out in style to advance at the Barbican in York on Thursday. Watch and stream top snooker action, including the UK Championship, live and on demand on Eurosport and discovery+.

Trump pots red with cue ball tight on the baulk cushion

Video credit: TNT Sports

Judd Trump’s dominance of John Higgins continued as he secured a 6-5 win to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.

Aside from meetings in the Championship League, Trump had won 11 of their last 12 clashes – and victory in York on Thursday made it five on the spin.

It was a match neither player will look back on with fond memories, as both lacked fluency for large parts of the contest.

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But Trump improved as the match progressed, as he did against Neil Robertson in the previous round, and he wrapped up a meeting with Zhang Anda in the last eight.

Trump got in first in the opener after a Higgins safety error, but he inherited a tough table and could only make 24.

The world No. 1 chipped away and built up a sizeable lead, but Higgins found a superb pot on the penultimate red and picked off a clearance of 37, and he passed a test of nerve when rolling in a tough black along the bottom rail to take a 42-minute opener.

Higgins produces majestic clearance to take opening frame against Trump

Video credit: TNT Sports

The second followed a similar pattern to the first with reds clustered together on a cushion and the black out of commission.

It boiled down to a battle on the colours, and it turned Trump’s way when Higgins missed the pink attempting a thin safety. He was unable to play the thin safety for a second time as another miss would have left him needing snookers, and he caught it too thick, which allowed Trump the chance to draw level.

The sticky passage of play continued in the third, with Trump taking it after over 35 minutes. Higgins had his chance, but missed the final pink and left it over the bottom right for his opponent to steal.

The fourth was a tale of two misses. Higgins failed to pot a black off its spot to hand a chance to Trump but with the frame at his mercy, the latter missed a straight brown and Higgins stepped in with a run of 39 to draw level at the interval.

Higgins paid a heavy price for a miss in the fifth as Trump found fluency with a break of 111 to edge back in front.

Trump makes century break to take fifth frame against Higgins

Video credit: TNT Sports

Trump looked in excellent shape in the sixth, but a flick off the green when potting a red saw the cue ball drop into the right middle.

Higgins countered with 58 and then won a safety battle as he closed out the frame to draw level.

There was some luck to Higgins taking the sixth frame, but there was nothing fortunate about the seventh as The Wizard of Wishaw crafted a wonderful break of 106 to move in front for the first time since the opening frame.

Higgins makes superb century to take seventh frame against Trump

Video credit: TNT Sports

Higgins missed a red by a whisker in the eighth and had to watch from his chair as Trump crafted a break of 69 to get the match back on level terms.

Cue-ball control is something Higgins prides himself on, but it let him down in the ninth as he under-hit a shot to the blue by a foot, and was forced to take on a yellow with the rest. It did not threaten the pocket, and Trump punished the lapse with a break of 75.

Trump wows crowd with double on the pink against Higgins

Video credit: TNT Sports

In a match where both players refused to budge, it came as no surprise when Higgins picked off a break of 66 in the 10th to force a decider.

Higgins got in first and made 30, but a split of the cluster did not work out, and it led to an eight-minute spell of tippy-tappy with the cue ball in the middle of the pack.

The stalemate was broken when Higgins attempted to drop the white on the cushion below the black, but he went a fraction too far and left Trump a shot to left middle.

It was not an easy pot, but Trump dropped it into the heart of the pocket and closed out the win in style with his second century of the match.

zhang beats bingham in decider

Trump will take on Zhang in the last eight after he won five frames on the spin to beat Stuart Bingham 6-5.

Bingham looked set for a comfortable success when racing into a 5-1 lead, having earlier in the contest passed up a shot at a 147 when missing a black.

'He's not happy' - Bingham points cue in frustration after missing black in 147 bid

Video credit: TNT Sports

But after seeing Bingham take the sixth, Zhang knocked in breaks of 81, 70 and 108 to force a decider, and won a tense final frame to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship for the second year in a row.

WILSON ADVANCES OVER WAKELIN

Kyren Wilson advanced to the quarter-final as expected with a 6-2 win over Chris Wakelin.

The reigning world champion raced to a 4-1 lead as Wakelin continuously squandered his chances.

He fought back to within two frames, but in the seventh, he left a red over the right middle while 52-0 and Wilson was able to fight back and pick up the next two frames for the win.

Wilson was too efficient for Wakelin and punished his mistakes decisively, while Wakelin was unable to take advantage of the opportunities that Wilson presented him.

HOLT FIGHTS BACK TO STUN JONES

Michael Holt fought from 5-2 down against Jak Jones to beat the Welshman 6-5 and book a clash with Wilson in the quarter-finals.

Holt was making his first appearance in the last 16 for the first time since 1999, and pushed Jones to an incredible final-frame decider, winning shortly before midnight on Thursday.

Jones looked set to run back his World Championship final defeat against Wilson in the next round, but a run of four straight frames from Holt means Jones will not have the chance to avenge the loss.

Holt almost ended his furious comeback with a century in the final frame, but had to settle for an 86 – but that will not matter to him.

Watch and stream top snooker action, including the UK Championship, live and on demand on Eurosport and discovery+

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