English Open 2023: Sensational fightback from Judd Trump against John Higgins earns place in final

Judd Trump advanced to the English Open final after a thrilling 6-5 comeback win against John Higgins, against all odds.

Trump struggled to get anywhere near his best for the majority of the tie and fell three frames behind twice, but suddenly clicked into gear when trailing 2-5.

After forcing a decider with some world class snooker, Trump stormed through the final hurdle to reach Sunday’s final where he will face either Liu Hongyu or Zhang Anda.

The match began on a cagey note with both players struggling to clear the reds off the table in an intriguing safety battle.

Higgins eventually found his stride and dispatched those remaining reds, and an outstanding clearance of 124 enabled him to draw first blood in this contest.

Trump had built a steady 35-0 lead before miscuing a shot onto the red, and after another safety battle, the Scot soon found his rhythm again before failing to pot a red to the bottom pocket.

A stalemate ensued with the cue ball tightly position behind a red on the bottom cushion.

It all turned rather scrappy as an attritional safety contest resulted in Trump levelling the scores after the Scot horribly mistimed his shot to the blue. Trump would pot that and then the pink to draw level.

Higgins would re-establish his lead with a break of 53, wrapping things up when Trump left a potable red for Higgins to dispatch with ease.

The Scot motored on in frame four and took that very convincingly with a fantastic break of 137 and claim the second century of this match, which gone wavered between the sluggish and the sublime.

Trump would lose another frame after overcutting a black, and a slew of uncharacteristic errors allowed Higgins to extend his lead further at 4-1.

The next frame was a must-win for the 2019 world champion, and he did just that with a break of 59 proving crucial in halving a deficit.

He somehow managed to escape the snooker, managed to hit the brown into the green pocket, before potting the blue and keeping the match alive.

But Higgins would continue his sparkling form to work a 43-point lead in the seventh frame and sink a brilliant long red.

He failed to find position to follow up his impressive effort and opted for a strong safety which left Trump facing a difficult long red of his own.

Trump missed the target by a distance which allowed Higgins to move in and make no mistake to extend his lead to three frames once again.

Trump gave himself a chance in a decisive frame, knocking in a long red and a useful cannon to help him make 50 but overcut a red to right middle which highlighted the inconsistency he had struggled with throughout the match, and that move gave Higgins the opportunity to snatch the frame – and victory.

Higgins picked off the tough reds, but couldn’t get on the yellow to leave the frame hanging in the balance.

Trump took advantage of Higgins’ miss on the yellow to produce a stunning shot to develop the brown and cleared to the pink to hang on with his third frame, despite a poor showing.

However, he began to find his groove in the next and pulled off a stunning start in the form of a long red with the white welded to the baulk cushion, opening up the pack to find a path in.

He picked off a superb break of 88, his best of the day by far, to get within one of Higgins.

And then in a dramatic shift of momentum with Trump looking like a different player, he had the tie all square with a carbon copy of the previous frame – racking up a break of 111, his fifth century of the tournament – to set up a decider with Higgins helpless.

From that point, there was no looking back for Trump who was in devastating form.

He raced ahead to 68 and with one ball required, ran out of position leaving Higgins the chance to mop up, but he missed a long red.

Trump stepped in to clear the balls required to seal a breathtaking comeback.