Judd Trump out of Northern Ireland Open after being stunned by Aaron Hill in second round in Belfast

Aaron Hill produced a brilliant performance to stun Judd Trump 4-1 in the second round of the Northern Ireland Open.

Hill simply outplayed the 2019 world champion with some brilliant shots and big breaks under pressure to advance into the last 32.

Trump was aiming to win a fourth Northern Ireland Open title, but his run in Belfast has come to an end.

Hill took advantage of a couple of flukes, before making a nice break of 52 to take the opener, but Trump hit back with a clearance of 109 to level things up.

The third frame was a scrappy affair with every colour off its spot at one point, apart from the blue, but a superb break of 36 from Hill proved to be the difference.

He backed it up to go 3-1 ahead after potting a delightful red at an acute angle into the middle pocket which allowed him to take a two-frame lead, leaving Trump to watch on.

Trump was in first in the next frame but missed a red he would normally get to the bottom left pocket.

Although Hill had two scoring visits to the table, he still trailed Trump in the frame. However, he knocked in a straight red from distance, with excellent cueing, to make a break of 35 with two reds left on the table.

The Irishman potted another great long red and went on to win the match.

“See, I know I can play like that all the time, it’s just about getting consistency,” said Hill after the match. “I’m pretty happy with the way I played. I’m buzzing.

“I like playing out there in front of the crowd and in front of the TV cameras. When you play the likes of Judd, it brings the best out of you because you know you have to play well.

“I’m just chuffed to pieces now and to have my family there in the front row is a brilliant feeling. It means the world to me. I just hope it kick-starts me now and I can do this more often.

“It’s right up there with one of my biggest wins obviously, and one of the biggest days of my life.”

Hill set the tone for an evening session awash with shocks.

2015 world champion Stuart Bingham was bounced out of the tournament 4-0 by 2021 World Seniors Championship winner David Lilley, who compiled runs of 60 and 73 to set up a third-round clash with Dave Gilbert.

It looked like Kyren Wilson was in danger of also exiting the tournament when he trailed Sean O’Sullivan 3-2. But the ‘Warrior’ rallied back, taking the next two frames to win 4-3.

Asked how he felt he played by Eurosport’s Rachel Casey, Wilson responded: “Not great. It’s the graveyard shift, isn’t it? The eight o’clock session. You don’t know when you’re getting on, you just lingering around the practice rooms.

“I just struggled with my timing in a little bit out there and actually felt as the match progressed my timing was coming, and I was starting to find a bit of rhythm.

“Just listening to a few of the players, and they’re bang on, you’ve just got treat these early rounds as a bit of a practice and warm-up into the event.”

Elsewhere, The Gentleman Joe Perry was also on the end of a whitewash, losing 4-0 to David Wells despite opening with a break of 67 in frame one.

Earlier on Tuesday, John Higgins came back to win a thriller against Jackson Page, despite being 3-2 and 64 points down.

Ding Junhui was beaten 4-3 by Michael White, whilst the story of the day was Jimmy White’s spat with referee Ben Williams after the official laughed at a mistake he made when calling the wrong ball colour.

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