World Grand Prix snooker 2024: Ronnie O’Sullivan comes from 4-0 down to beat Judd Trump for third title

Ronnie O’Sullivan completed an excellent comeback to claim his third World Grand Prix title with a 10-7 victory over Judd Trump.

A long red, followed by a 74 break forced O’Sullivan, who needed two snookers, to neglect to come to the table, giving Trump the perfect start in the afternoon session by taking the first frame.

After building a solid 62 tally in the second, a frame-ball miss gave O’Sullivan a chance to gain a foothold in the early exchanges, but an uncharacteristic miss from The Rocket, hitting the far jaw of the middle pocket, teed his opponent up for a two-frame lead. Trump duly accepted the invitation, building a quick 40 break to do so.

A long bout of safety balls from both sides gave the third frame a nervy feel, but a fantastic red to the left corner from Trump meant that the top seed had his tail up once more, working through the colours to bring up a 3-0 lead, before a run of 59 in the fourth had him sailing towards victory at the afternoon interval.

It was not until the fifth that O’Sullivan finally got on the board, with in-offs proving to be both players’ sticking points in the early frames.

The two-time champion screwed the cue ball in off a red that he had potted in the bottom left at 38-0, but Trump could only answer with a couple of reds before O’Sullivan sealed the deal to get his name on the scoreboard.

A run of 54 was swiftly ended by a simple miss on a red at the start of the sixth, but both players missed easy one-pointers, but O’Sullivan swiftly served up a 63 to halve the deficit.

Trump regained his composure in the seventh with a break of 40, and a poor shot from The Rocket allowed the his opponent to build on his 40 with a further 61 for a 5-2 lead.

The final frame of the afternoon session was poised nicely at 33-33 with misses from both players, but it was O’Sullivan who added one final strike to his tally before the break, with a run of 63 leaving him within two at the halfway stage.

Trump made a solid start in the evening, as a ball left in the jaws by O’Sullivan gave The Ace in the Pack a chance to open up a decent break. He did so with a 66, but lost his position on frame ball.

An O’Sullivan miss on the brown was gobbled up by Trump, who restored his three-frame lead at the start of the evening session, but The Rocket was within two once with a 56 flourish at the end of the 10th, and a further 74 in frame 11 had him on Trump’s tail.

He levelled proceedings not long after, as Trump wasted a decent 57 break to leave O’Sullivan with a chance to clear after the final red, which he duly did to go in at the interval on level terms.

The Rocket, as he often does, found a way to edge ahead in the 13th, starting with a beautiful long pot, but a poor positional shot saw his 52 break end abruptly. It did not matter, though, with Trump not scoring a point the whole frame, as O’Sullivan seized the initiative for the first time.

A strong 51 start was ended by a routine red miss from O’Sullivan, but despite some recovery from Trump – in quite brilliant fashion to get himself back in touch with 48 – he left a ball in the jaws as O’Sullivan worked up a two-frame advantage.

A topsy-turvy 15th frame saw a huge brown from Trump stopped in the jaws, which O’Sullivan potted to go one frame from victory.

The drama was not done, with Trump showing great determination to bring up a 70 break to add some spice to the dying embers.

But it was O’Sullivan, inevitably, who took this one, working up a half-century before clearing up the colours for his third Grand Prix crown.