Judd Trump booked his semi-final place in Dafabet Champion of Champions after thrashing Leicester City fan Mark Selby this evening at Ricoh Arena, writes Ziad Chaudry.
The 25-year-old world number 11 from Bristol followed up his 4-1 drubbing over Scotland’s Stephen Maguire earlier in the day with another emphatic performance.
Current world champion Selby failed to convert any points in frames 4, 5 and 6 as Trump’s brilliant 119 break in the next frame was the perfect icing to his 6-1 victory.
“I am really pleased with how I played and I know Mark didn’t play his best but I put him under a lot of pressure from the start and he missed a few,” said a delighted Trump.
“Friday’s group could go any way but Ricky Walden is the form player there. Neil has been struggling a little bit apart from the first tournament of the season so it really could be anyone but if I was to have a guess I would say maybe Mark Allen.
“Between now and then I will go back, have more practice, take it easy and watch some of the games to see how people are playing. I am really looking forward to Saturday now. I haven’t been getting through to the latter stages of many tournaments recently so it is nice to be involved.
“I have played some decent stuff this season but there are a lot of top players now and if you don’t play to the best of your ability you are going to get beaten. Today I played really well and for me the other players missed some chances, which helped get me through.”
Tomorrow from 1pm sees a repeat of last year’s final with defending champion ‘The Rocket’ Ronnie O’Sullivan playing Stuart Bingham while Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu complete the group 1 round of matches, with the two winners meet at 7pm.