Trump world final triumph ensures grand slam sweep
Print Edition
England鈥檚 Judd Trump defeated John Higgins 18-9 to win the 2019 World Championship final in commanding style at Sheffield鈥檚 Crucible Theatre on Monday.
Victory gave Trump, beaten in the 2011 final by Scotland鈥檚 Higgins, his maiden world title and saw him join the list of snooker players to have completed a career grand slam following previous successes in the UK Championship and Masters tournaments.
It also saw Trump become the first snooker player win a million pounds (US$1.3 million) in a single season.
鈥淚鈥檝e worked so hard for this. It was an amazing final,鈥 Trump said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 put it into words how well I played. That鈥檚 what you鈥檝e got to do to beat John, he鈥檚 one of the greatest to play the game.鈥
Defeat meant four-time world champion Higgins had now lost the last three Crucible finals. But while he felt keenly disappointed in going close in going 18-15 to Mark Selby in 2017 and last year鈥檚 18-6 loss to Mark Williams, Higgins had no reason to reproach himself after a superb display by Trump.
鈥淚 was the lucky one, I didn鈥檛 have to pay for a ticket,鈥 said Higgins. 鈥淧laying my third final in a row is brilliant and I鈥檓 delighted to get there 鈥 but I came up against an unstoppable machine.鈥
Trump was on the brink of victory at 16-9 when Monday鈥檚 evening session got underway and he made quick work of it securing the two frames he required to be crowned champion with breaks of 94 and 62.
Trump had been outstanding in winning eight frames in a row on Sunday to establish a 12-5 overnight lead against Higgins.
But the impressive overall standard of both players in this match was shown by an afternoon session on Monday that started with Higgins nearly achieving a maximum break of 147 and ended with Trump just falling short of the landmark.
Higgins potted all 15 reds, including an outlandish double on the last, as he closed in on a maximum before missing a relatively simple black.
Higgins then won the next as well to reduce the deficit to 12-7.
But Trump, who had needed a final frame to beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and then came from behind in his second-round match with China鈥檚 Ding Junhui, stopped Higgins鈥 fightback with a brilliant 101.
It was his fifth century break of the match.
Trump then produced a composed break of 71 following a poor break-off shot by Higgins as he moved into a 14-7 lead at the mid-session interval.
Trump maintained his form when the match resumed, potting a brilliant opening long red and playing several superb positional shots in a commanding break of 126.
Higgins, with breaks of 67 and 70, at least avoided losing the match with a session to spare before Trump finished the afternoon鈥檚 play in style.
There seemed little prospect of a 147 when Trump, on 80, was left with a tough angle on the black and easier colors available to him.
But he made no mistake with a difficult pot and completed yet another century break before narrowly missing a tough red to the left middle pocket.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
