Snooker news - Judd Trump wins Masters with dominant victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan

ByEurosport

Updated 20/01/2019 at 22:32 GMT

Judd Trump claimed the biggest win of his career and a cheque for £200,000 with a 10-4 victory over seven-times Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan at Alexandra Palace.

Judd Trump of England pose with the trophy following his win in The Dafabet Masters Final over Ronnie O'Sullivan of England at Alexandra Palace on January 20, 2019 in London, England.

Image credit: Eurosport

The 2011 UK champion was utterly dominant against snooker's greatest player in the afternoon session, constructing a 7-1 lead to leave him three frames short of the winning line in the evening.

[WATCH MASTERS SNOOKER ON EUROSPORT AND EUROSPORT PLAYER]

O'Sullivan - winner of the game's biggest invitational event in 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016 and 2017 - was strangely out of sorts throughout the day, mostly due to his opponent's terrific cueball control and considered break-building that was interspersed with some mature and timely safety play.

The Masters

'The King has been dethroned!' - Trump wins The Masters

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20/01/2019 at 21:56

'The King has been dethroned!' - Trump wins The Masters

The first two frames of the evening session were shared, Trump's seven-minute 88 in the tenth frame cancelling out O'Sullivan winning only his second frame of the final in the ninth frame.

Five-times world champion O'Sullivan made the first century of the final with a lovely 114 in the 11th frame to close to 8-3 behind, but 29-year-old Trump was in no mood to relinquish his lead as he quickly pounced on an O'Sullivan miss to make 68 for a 9-3 advantage.

O'Sullivan responded with a lovely 109 after the mid-session interval, but it was merely stalling for time as a missed cut on a pink on 16 was punished by his opponent, who produced a lovely 53 to finally seal the victory.

Trump lost the 2011 World Championship final 18-15 to John Higgins, but his performance at Alexandra Palace will give him serious hope of ending his long wait to become world champion in May.

Trump: I've waited a long time for this... I was surprised having a lead against Ronnie

At the age of 43, O'Sullivan will also regroup knowing he remains the man to beat in snooker. Incredibly, this was his fifth final of the season and he has lost only three matches this season, twice to Trump in the finals of the Northern Ireland Open and Masters and to Mark Davis in the last four of the English Open.

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FIRST SESSION REPORT

Judd Trump needs three more frames to win his first Masters title after opening up a 7-1 lead over Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Alexandra Palace.

Seven-times Masters winner O'Sullivan did little wrong in the opening two frames, but was forced to sit and watch his fellow Englishman Trump produce an effortless display of long potting and break building in an all-out attacking display.

WATCH MASTERS SNOOKER ON EUROSPORT AND EUROSPORT PLAYER

Breaks of 89 and 87 followed by a 56 in the fourth frame saw 2011 UK champion Trump career into a 4-0 lead at the mid-session lead as a bamboozled O'Sullivan contributed only 45 points before a shocked 2000 sell-out crowd at the London venue.

Five-times world champion O'Sullivan - winner of a seventh UK title before Christmas - stopped the rot with a knock of 69 in the fifth frame, but paid a heavy price for missing two obvious chances in the sixth frame when he seemed likely to close to 4-2 behind.

Trump was clearly buoyed by seeing his opponent miss as he quickly set about enhancing the 5-3 lead he has over O'Sullivan in final head-to-head meetings, including a recent 9-7 success in the Northern Ireland Open final in Belfast in November.

A 66 from Trump made it 5-1 with O'Sullivan failing to pot a ball as the Bristol player eased 6-1 clear.

The last frame of the session was huge with world number five Trump compiling 66 before running out of position.

World number three O'Sullivan - appearing in his 13th Masters final since 1995 - had the chance to complete a dramatic steal, but missed a tricky red along the bottom cushion as his opponent finished off matters for a six-frame lead.

The first man to 10 frames wins the Paul Hunter trophy and a cheque for £200,000.

Unless O'Sullivan can find a way to pressurise Trump, and more crucially rediscover his peak level of form, it seems likely that the final will have a swift ending on Sunday evening.

They play to a finish from 7pm on Sunday evening.

MASTERS RESULTS

FIRST ROUND

(Best of 11 frames)

Mark Allen 5-6 Luca Brecel
Ding Junhui 6-1 Jack Lisowski
John Higgins 5-6 Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 Stuart Bingham
Mark Selby 6-2 Stephen Maguire
Judd Trump 6-2 Kyren Wilson
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams 3-6 Neil Robertson

QUARTER-FINALS

(Best of 11 frames)

Luca Brecel 5-6 Ding Junhui
Ryan Day 3-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Mark Selby 2-6 Judd Trump
Barry Hawkins 3-6 Neil Robertson

SEMI-FINALS

(Best of 11 frames)

Ding Junhui 3-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Judd Trump 6-4 Neil Robertson

FINAL

(Best of 19 frames)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 1-7 Judd Trump

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