Judd Trump whitewashes David Grace after slow start to reach round two at Welsh Open

Updated 13/02/2023 at 23:08 GMT

Current Masters champion Judd Trump beat David Grace 4-0 in their held-over qualifying match at the Welsh Open. It was a very cagey start from both players, with the opening two frames taking more than an hour. However, Trump crucially won them both and kicked on to seal the match. Stream top snooker action, including the Welsh Open, live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.

‘That’s astonishing!’ – Trump plays brilliant positional shots and steals second frame from Grace

Judd Trump overcame a slow start to whitewash David Grace at the Welsh Open and reach the second round in Llandudno.

The opening two frames could have gone either way, but Trump won them both and went on to win the next two frames. He will play Louis Heathcote in the last 64 on Wednesday.

“It was an interesting game,” Trump said in the Eurosport studio. “It was quite scrappy, the table was a little bit heavy.

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“I felt good when I was in amongst the balls, there was a lot of good safety out there. Dave potted a couple of good shots to get in amongst them.

“I didn’t feel like I did that much wrong. It was just one of those games where the balls go a little bit scrappy and you have just got to be patient.

“In the end, a good clearance in one of the frames so overall happy with that.”

Trump narrowly wins 39-minute opening frame against Grace

A scrappy first frame came down to the colours with Trump 52-48 up. Grace put Trump in a snooker, which the Masters champion missed first time before leaving a long yellow.

Grace missed it by a long way but then fluked the yellow, though was not on the green. Trump then laid a snooker on his opponent, which Grace got out of but left a medium-distance green. It went in and Trump went on to take the 39-minute frame.

The cagey play continued early in the second frame, before Grace got in and had a big chance to make a frame-winning break.

However, on 42, he was left with a tricky black which he missed and Trump capitalised with a stunning clearance to double his lead.

In the third frame, Trump was on a 147 but missed the sixth black off its spot. Nevertheless, Grace missed straight away and Trump made a break of 44 so was now 3-0 up.

Grace was in again in the fourth frame but missed a red, so Trump stroked in a delightful red of his own into the middle and was away again.

A few minutes later and the match was done as Trump produced a controlled break of 68, which was the highest of the match, and it was enough to reach round two.

Meanwhile, despite losing the two opening frames, Mark Selby is safely through to the second round after a 4-2 victory over Jamie O’Neill.

Jack Lisowski wasted no time in securing his place in the next round following a whitewash 4-0 win over Zhang Anda, while Mark Allen overcame Alfie Burden 4-1. Luca Brecel saw off Sean O’Sullivan 4-1.