UK Championship snooker 2020: 'Judd Trump like Lionel Messi', 147s and 'the mother of all flukes'
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ByEurosport
Updated 07/12/2020 at 14:52 GMT
2020 saw Eurosport broadcast the first round of the UK Championship for the first time, and that was just the start of the action. There were 147s from Stuart Bingham and Kyren Wilson and Neil Robertson was in his 'best form ever'. Judd Trump was compared to both Lionel Messi and Tiger Woods, and Ronnie O'Sullivan paid tribute to the late Diego Maradona.
Judd Trump
Image credit: Eurosport
The UK Championship is a Triple Crown event that never disappoints, and this year was no exception.
Starting with the first round, which Eurosport broadcast for the first time this year, let's recap some of the most dramatic and entertaining moments from an unprecedented edition of the UK tournament.
The top-level snooker pretty much never stops on Eurosport, eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app. Next up, enjoy the Scottish Open.
‘I couldn’t see out of my eye’
The first day of the first round saw Mark Selby take on Michael White, with the three-time world champion pushed all the way by White, a two-time ranking event winner. The 37-year-old Selby produced a total 140 clearance on the back of a brilliant opening red.
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'What a brilliant pot' - Selby pots lovely red to kick-start 140 break
However, Selby told Eurosport post-match that he had been struggling with sight issues, saying:
“The main thing was to get the win.
I was just itching my eye and then next minute it was just blurry. I could see but then when I got down for the shot everything was blurry, I was seeing ripples of waves and I couldn’t see out of it.
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'It was all blurry' – Selby suffers eye trouble during first-round win
Selby would win out 6-4.
A third career maximum and ‘snooker perfection’ for Wilson
Kyren Wilson would also enjoy a 6-4 win in the first round, against Ashley Hugill.
However, the 28-year-old Kettering potter went one further than Selby, producing a third 147 of his career – and a second this season – in frame six.
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Watch Kyren Wilson's magnificent 147 maximum break in full
"It kind of came out of nowhere," Wilson said afterwards. "I felt in really good form coming here for my first round game but you never know what will pan out and there were numerous kicks, it made me feel a bit edgy and you fancied one on every other shot.
To then create snooker perfection shows you how topsy-turvy this game can be. I'm delighted to do it here in the UK Championship, my first at a Triple Crown event, and the third of my career, so I am delighted to build on that tally.
‘I hope you get a kick on final black’ – Wilson reveals Allen quip before maximum
However, Wilson revealed afterwards that a quip from Mark Allen played on his mind as he got down for the final black.
“I was having a bit of a laugh with Mark Allen in the interval,” began Wilson.
He was saying about the number of kicks I have had and he asked what chalk I was using. I told him [new Taom chalk] and he said: ‘Well it serves you right – I hope you go back out and you have a 140 and you get a kick on the final black’.
“Obviously all in jest. But when I got down for that final black I thought: ‘Please no kick, I’ll never live it down’. So I was pleased to make it in the end.”
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‘I hope you get a kick on final black’ – Wilson reveals Allen quip before maximum
That was only the 17th maximum in the history of the tournament, they come at an average of one every two and a half years – meaning that snooker fans should have had to wait until 2023 for their next UK Championship maximum. Yet…
Bingham compiles second 147 in as many days
There was little time for Wilson to bask in his 147 glory, as 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham produced a maximum in his 6-2 win over Zak Suretya a day later. It was the seventh of his career.
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Watch Bingham's brilliant 147 in full
Shot of the tournament contender
Snooker is a sport of patience. And Lee Walker it is fair to say takes a considered approach to his game. In his first-round slog against Shaun Murphy, the world number 125 took an average of 34 seconds per shot. It meant his match against the 2009 UK Championship winner went into the small hours of the morning and Murphy would win through at 01:42.
And it was well past midnight that Murphy produced a shot of the tournament contender, one that Neal Foulds on commentary described as such:
That is an absolutely fantastic shot. Masterful. Takes you back to the sort of shot Ray Reardon might have played. Wonderful.
“That is as good a shot as I have seen in many a year.”
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Will this be the shot of the tournament? Watch Shaun Murphy's inch-perfect safety
'Nobody plays the game like O’Sullivan'
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump began their quests for an eighth and second UK Championship crown on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. O’Sullivan made light work of Leo Fernandez, coming away with a 6-0 win, while Trump, playing Paul Davison, would proceed to round two following a 6-1 success.
O’Sullivan, as O’Sullivan does, produced moments of artistry during his win, on the day that Diego Maradona died, prompting 1986 world champion Joe Johnson to comment that "nobody does it like O’Sullivan."
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‘Nobody plays the game like O’Sullivan’ – The Rocket makes light work of Leo Hernandez
‘Maradona had the world in his hands’
And after the match O’Sullivan paid tribute to Maradona.
"He’s iconic,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport.
"Maradona, Muhammad Ali, Ayrton Senna, they left their mark on the world. They had the world in their hands. He was incredible. I have always said I would prefer a short and exciting life rather than a long and beige life. Maradona definitely had an exciting life.
“There’s probably 200 billion people that have come and gone in this world and there’s 10 people in the sporting world that have surpassed what we thought was humanely possible and Maradona was one of them.
"It wasn’t just the way he played, it was the passion and emotion, you just couldn’t help but get sucked into the energy he brought onto the football field, let alone the skill and the mesmeric way he did it."
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O’Sullivan: Iconic Maradona had the world in his hands
A broken scoreboard that 'sums up 2020'
Thursday was the final day of first-round action which was notable for two off-the-baize incidents.
Trump’s match went analogue, with the referee Ben Williams having to keep the players abreast of the score verbally after the digital scoreboard broke, which led Eurosport commentator Dave Hendon to say:
That really sums up 2020 doesn't it, in a nutshell.
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'Sums up 2020!' - Digital scoreboard fails during Trump match
'Shot of the tournament!' – Outrageous Trump pot
Trump, the world number one, made an outrageous pot during his match with Ricky Walden, delighting Jimmy White and Neal Foulds in the Eurosport studio in Milton Keynes.
Not only did the world number one sink a difficult red into the bottom left pocket, but he managed to send the white spinning back up the table towards the colours.
The shot – branded a “humdinger” by Philip Studd on Eurosport commentary – was the high point from a topsy-turvy display from Trump as he reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3 win over Walden.
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'What a humdinger!' - Unbelievable Trump shot astounds commentator
'I probably won't be able to do it again!' - Selby miracle shot
Selby admitted that he probably could not nail his incredible positional shot again as he chatted in the Eurosport studio after one of the most memorable shots of the event.
The Jester is a triple world champion, and with positional shots like the one he pulled off from the blue against Barry Hawkins at the UK Championship in Milton Keynes, it's not hard to see why.
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'I probably couldn't do it again!' - Selby on miracle shot
"That was the only shot I had, really," Selby told Neal Foulds and Colin Murray in the Eurosport studio.
I think if you asked me to play that shot again I probably won't be able to play it.
"It was probably a one-in-twenty shot, maybe a one-in-twenty-five."
O’Sullivan: Trump is the Tiger Woods of snooker
World champion O’Sullivan compared the Bristolian’s dominance to that of Tiger Woods in golf after impressing in his 6-4 win against Kyren Wilson in their quarter-final.
“Mental! Unbelievable shots – [he has shown] powerful cueing and is making shots from absolutely nowhere,” began O’Sullivan.
“There is not a lot you can do other than sit there and wait for something to change.
It is like when Tiger Woods came along, he is playing a different game to the other guys.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan: Judd Trump is the Tiger Woods of snooker – he is playing a different game
'The mother of all flukes!' - Zhou leaves Robertson stunned
Zhou Yuelong left Neil Robertson stunned with a crazy fluke which ended up gifting him a frame during their UK Championship semi-final.
Everyone loves a fluke, particularly a wild one. Robertson's face made it very clear that Zhou had achieved the latter on Saturday. Trailing by 45-62 in the third frame, Zhou somehow managed to pot the blue after a length-of-the-table hit-and-hope safety attempt.
Not only did the shot get him out of a tricky snooker at a crucial point in the frame, it also allowed him to subsequently clean up. Robertson was left to simply watch on in disbelief - and look ever-so-slightly mad about it all.
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'The mother of all flukes!' - Zhou leaves Robertson stunned
"Wow, what a moment that could be!" exclaimed David Hendon on commentary for Eurosport.
The mother of all flukes could just have turned this match around!
'Like Messi' – Trump trick shot astonishes O'Sullivan
O’Sullivan then compared Trump’s ability to Barcelona star Lionel Messi after a sensational trick shot during his semi-final win over Lu Ning.
"I was trying to hit the knuckle," Trump said in the Eurosport studio.
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'Like Messi putting it in the top corner' – Trump shot stuns O'Sullivan
"It’s just taking the mick really," added Ronnie O’Sullivan on the shot.
It’s like Messi putting it into the top corner. It’s a ball skill and this guy’s got quite a lot of skill with the ball.
The Final: Trump v Robertson
The final saw the sport's two form players - Trump and Robertson - face each other in what promised to be an excellent best-of-19 showdown; it ended up being a final occasionally decorated by brilliance but one dripping in drama.
Robertson edged a tense final-frame decider to win a third UK Championship title in an error-strewn final that finished at 00:54am local time.
The Australian looked set to finish runner-up in the Triple Crown event as Trump rolled in the colours in the final frame, but the world number one botched the last pink to hand Robertson the latest of reprieves. He made no mistake.
It was a thrilling conclusion to a match that had occasionally bordered on hopeless, with both players wilting under the Marshall Arena lights in Milton Keynes, which played host to the tournament instead of York due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Here is that thrilling conclusion:
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'He's missed it!' - Watch the stunning conclusion to epic final
Ahead of that majestic, drama-soaked conclusion, there were moments of brilliance from both players, Trump opened with another shot for the highlights reel in frame one.
'Another one for the highlights reel!' - Trump nails long pot
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'Another one for the highlights reel!' - Trump nails long pot
'That's a beauty' - Robertson sinks delicious red
However, Robertson was not to be outdone, making a brilliant pot at the start of the 12th frame.
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'That's a beauty' - Robertson sinks delicious red
'Brilliant pot!' – Trump steals 'epic' 51-minute frame
The tension was building throughout the sessions, and it appeared to reach a crescendo in the 14th frame. Trump took it – to level at seven frames apiece – with a brilliant pot on the final brown to bring the frame to a conclusion after 51 minutes.
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'Brilliant pot!' – Trump steals 'epic' 51-minute frame
'What a fantastic shot - look at this!' – Trump hides nerves to sink long pink
And Trump looked to have renewed vigour in the 15th frame dispatching a brilliant long pink to settle some jitters.
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'What a fantastic shot - look at this!' – Trump hides nerves to sink long pink
Yet, ultimately, it was Robertson who sealed it, capitalising on a Trump error in the 19th frame to seal the title. It left the world number one to conclude that he had bottled it.
'I bottled it, simple as that'
The 31-year-old Bristolian had looked odds on to seal the title as he set about the colours in the final frame but uncharacteristically missed as the pressure ratcheted up at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
The Australian would steal in to sink the pink and seal a third UK Championship success, leaving Trump to rue an opportunity missed.
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'I bottled it' - Trump dismayed after blowing title shot
“It was an epic battle really,” began Trump.
It is tough to take and I just bottled it in the end – simple as that. I had an easy brown to screw back but I tried to stun it just because I was under pressure and I ended up messing up. The pressure got to me, I would never miss from there normally. It was such a slog that I was just trying too hard.
“It probably made for good viewing but for me it was devastating.”
UK Championship: Vote for the shot of the tournament
Ahead of the final Eurosport rounded up the best shots so far from the entertaining event in Milton Keynes.
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UK Championship: What was the shot of the tournament?
Which shot is your favourite:
What was the best shot of the UK Championship?
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