Riyadh Season World Masters: Judd Trump survives onslaught from Sean Murphy to advance to semi-finals

Judd Trump overcame a remarkable performance from Sean Murphy to win in the quarterfinals of the Riyadh Season World Masters.

The 2019 world champions were able to face it through an entertaining match, mainly due to the form of their opponents, but still won 4-3.

It was Magician who was responsible for most of the front run, narrowly missing out on his opponent in the early exchanges, and took the lead from the first frame, but lost his flow as the contest went on longer.

He got off to a perfect start, taking advantage of Trump’s mistake to hit a brilliant 126, and roared home his first century of the day, much to the delight of the crowd.

He tilted with the ‘golden’ ball and was in a good position to make a ‘supermaximum’ break of 167 in the second frame, but unfortunately after opening the puck, the red ran in front of the black’s potting pass. It lasted until I saw it.

Undeterred, he turned a gorgeous long green into a perfect 121 along the way, with Trump’s only shot coming in and off.

The ace of the pack hadn’t potted the ball enough to this point, but he made amends with a strong score of 41 in the third frame, and Blake eventually ran out of steam after losing position on too many occasions. .

This gave Murphy a chance for a notable steal, but his return ended at 39, with Trump returning to the underdog half after forcing a mistake on his opponent with a good safety.

Moments later, the 34-year-old made a top break with a 75 to make it 2-2, but the parity didn’t last long and the Magician took back the lead with an 82.

“This is a great snooker match we’re watching,” exclaimed Eurosport commentator Neil Falls, but Murphy raced to a break of 58 in the sixth frame before misjudged the pot into the left corner. .

This mistake turned out to be decisive, as it gave President Trump the chance to force a decision, which he was able to do thanks to his 58th visit.

Murphy then had his first look in the seventh frame, only to miss the red with 41 frames remaining. However, Murphy didn’t have enough left in the tank to get back into the tank.

President Trump praised his opponent, saying it was a “tough match.” “This is probably one of the best performances I’ve ever had against anyone.

“Sean was unbelievable. He didn’t actually do much wrong. I was rough. I was a little nervous to be fair. Coming to a place like this, one round I never want to lose.”

”[I was thinking to myself] What time is the next flight? I was obviously worried. He was playing unbelievably. Even after going back to 2-2, he continued to play really well. I didn’t feel fluent between the balls. I was there scrapping for my life.

“In the last frame where I had a good chance early on, I was twitching a little bit and missed the shot the rest of the frame. Sometimes you get punished, but today I didn’t get punished.”

Murphy, on the other hand, was disappointed when he missed the red in the sixth frame, which was effectively serving as a match ball.

“We have a chance to win,” he said. “If you don’t take it, you rarely take it a second time. That was one of those situations.

“I just realized at the wrong time during the break that I was playing a shot and got into that situation. The shot just flew. When you look at the replay, the shot flew right into the middle of the pocket. I just caught the red and it was over.” It wasn’t supposed to be that way. ”

It hasn’t been a great season for the magician, who has been eliminated in the first or second round of six tournaments.

He now hopes to use this performance as a turning point in his campaign, adding: “It can’t get any worse than this! It was just a narrow escape to the Masters semi-finals. Of course we made it to the semi-finals. I’m not trying to go.’ I’m trying to bring home some silverware.

“The 2023/24 season has been a completely different season to the 2022/23 season. The trophy cabinet is empty this year. I’d like to think I’m saving it for Sheffield.”

“But I’m going to take some pretty positive things from that game. It was fun. I shot the ball well. I think if we play like that the rest of the season, good things could happen.”