Judd Trump ‘outrageous’ flukes help him book World Open semi-final spot, Jackson Page beats Elliot Slessor
Judd Trump is into the semi-finals of the 2024 World Open after coming through a tough battle with Kyren Wilson – but needed a healthy slice of luck along the way.
Trump, who is the defending champion in Yushan, having won the last edition of the event in 2019, eventually came through 5-2 against world No. 11 Wilson.
Trump took the first frame courtesy of a quick-fire break of 67 after capitalising on a missed pink from Wilson.
Wilson looked to bounce back immediately and led the second following a break of 47, but a poor safety opened the door for Trump to battle his way back into contention.
On the colours, Trump sank a troublesome green before pulling away for a 2-0 lead.
Undeterred, Wilson reduced the deficit following a break of 66, leaving Trump requiring two snookers, which ultimately didn’t materialise.
‘Very nicely done’ – Trump hits beautiful double in quarter-final against Wilson
A safety error from Trump in the fourth frame allowed Wilson to seize the initiative with a break of 70 to level things up.
A see-saw, hour-long fifth frame – also involving a re-rack – followed, with the two men involved in a tense battle on the final red and the yellow, but two astonishing back-to-back flukes on the green and brown turned things in Trump’s favour.
Anything you can do…Wilson responds to Trump double with a peach of his own
Hammering the cue ball at the green, the ball flew around the table before settling in the top-right pocket, albeit leaving Trump trapped behind the blue.
But almost unbelievably, the world No. 2 found a way out off the cushion to see the brown eventually drop into the top left pocket, before clearing up for the frame.
“Have you ever seen two more outrageous flukes back-to-back?” said a stunned Philip Studd on Eurosport commentary.
A despondent Wilson then jawsed a red to the middle pocket in the next frame before conceding to leave his opponent one frame from victory.
Wilson’s misfortune continued after missing a red to the bottom left, allowing Trump to take advantage and seal the frame and the win.
Trump will play Jackson Page in the last four, with the latter into his first ranking tournament semi-final following an impressive 5-2 win over Elliot Slessor.
Breaks of 90 and 140 put Page in control in the first two frames, but Slessor battled back to level things up at 2-2 with a break of 77 and edging a closely-fought fourth.
But buoyed by his win over Mark Selby a day earlier, Page kept the big breaks coming with knocks of 78, 76 and 87 in the final three frames to advance in style.
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