By elliott west
They say fortune favours the brave and today was a moment when Judd proved he is the man of the moment.
Trump was up against the Thai sensation, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who has helped bring the spirit of the game back to his homeland, a vibe that has sadly been missing since the glory days of when James Wattana graced the snooker stage. In a possible nineteen frame contest, Judd stole the first frame of nine in this session but it wasn’t long before the Thai had matched his opponent, making it 1-1 with a 66 clearance. However with an interval looming a lot rode on the next with whoever won it taking the lead. Judd was the player to nail it taking the frame comprehensively with a 96 break. This was followed by a further break of 78 to make it 3-1 at the first interval for Trump.
After the interval Trump began to fly. Firing an opening shot with a break of 90 to make it 4-1 and so his game just became clinical with divine shots, converted into divine pots as the cue was delivered. With everything hitting the back of the pocket, the air suddenly turned dark for Thepchaiya and he was dealt a bitter pill when he lost the seventh frame to the three miss rule. Judd made it 7-1 in frame eight with a break of 68 after just two hours of play. Un-Nooh scraped himself off the floor and dusted himself off as he took a crumb of comfort by taking the last frame of the first session to make it 7-2.
The second session left off where the first had ended with Trump ruling the snooker stage. A break of 64 in the first extending his lead to 8-2. Perhaps at this point his Thai opponent wished the ground would eat him up but he managed to pull another frame back out of the jaws of defeat by edging out the frame to make it 8-3. By winning the next, Thepchaiya had won three of the last four frames to make it 8-4 and perhaps the Thai’s walk on music should have been “Staying Alive”.
The late surge continued with Un-Nooh making a 56 break to take the thirteenth frame at the mid-session interval to pull another frame back to take it to a closer match of 8-5. However if Thepchaiya thought he was on for a possible shock win, his hopes were dashed due to Judd’s determination to get over the winning line first. A timely break of 130 after the interval meant that the Thai had little chance of coming back in the match.
Trump extended his lead to 9-5 and was only one frame away from glory. This was confirmed in the next frame when Judd stamped his mark of authority on the match and took the frame and match with a 10-5 victory!
Trump now goes into this week’s Champion of Champions brimming with confidence and undoubtedly being the strongest, most successful and clinical player of this season.
