Judd Trump ends Ronnie O'Sullivan hopes at Players Championship

ByEurosport

Updated 09/03/2017 at 16:05 GMT

Judd Trump was a 5-3 winner over Ronnie O'Sullivan in their Players Championship quarter-final at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.

Judd Trump in action at the Masters.

Image credit: Eurosport

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Trump always looked the likelier winner against a subdued five-times world champion O'Sullivan as breaks of 86, 113 and 60 was enough to secure him a semi-final meeting with Neil Robertson or Ali Carter in the semi-finals.

O'Sullivan's best contribution was 109 in the seventh frame, but Trump was the dominant force in the eighth frame to progress.

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Ding Junhui recovered from trailing 4-0 to complete a 5-4 win over John Higgins in the first round .

Four-times world champion Higgins looked like he was destined for an easy afternoon as he made breaks of 70 and 68 on his way to moving 4-0 clear.

But the mid-session interval changed the momentum of the match as Ding put his first frame on the board before knocks of 83, 67 and 107 saw the former UK and Masters champion restore parity at 4-4.

Ding made 59 in the deciding frame only to miss pink to the green pocket, apparently opening the door for a Higgins steal.

But the Scotsman wound too straight on a black in attempting to get right behind a red to a centre pocket.

Forced to play the red from distance, he jawed the ball from an acute angle knowing a clearance of red, colour and the colours would have saved him.

Ding was left with an easy red to centre as he duly potted red and black to leave Higgins needing snooker with the Wishaw player seeing enough rather than playing on for snookers being 37 behind with 27 left on the table.

John Higgins

Image credit: Reuters

Ding will face German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton for a place in the semi-finals with Higgins left to wonder how he lost a match he had been in control of.

Ali Carter set up a meeting with Neil Robertson in the last eight courtesy of a 5-4 win over Shaun Murphy in the last of the last-16 matches.

In a high-quality encounter, two-times world championship finalist Carter enjoyed breaks of 115, 107 and a 51 in the deciding frame to see out the match. Murphy compiled 110 and 76, but it was not enough to deny Carter a quarter-final meeting with the 2010 world champion.

The 16-man tournament, with a £125,000 first prize, is the penultimate event before the seeding cut-off falls for the World Championship which begins on April 15 in Sheffield.