UK Championship snooker: Judd Trump edges past John Higgins in final-frame decider at
World number one Judd Trump defeated three-time champion John Higgins 6-5 in a final-frame decider to book his place in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship at the Barbican in York.
A hard-fought opening to the match with several tactical exchanges left the scores level at 2-2 at the mid-session interval, with the contest becoming more fluent thereafter.
Trump crafted a superb break of 111 and also made two half centuries to lead 5-4, but Higgins, who made breaks of 58 and 106 forced an 11th frame with a composed 66 under pressure.
However, a loose safety shot from the Scot was heavily punished by Trump, who sealed his victory with a wonderful century.
“It is nice to do it when it really matters like in the last frame, it was a great break,” Trump told BBC Sport.
“When the real pressure is on is probably when I produce my best stuff. The game was too slow and I wanted to speed it up and start taking more balls on. It is a big tournament and sometimes you try too hard at the start.”
He will now face China’s Zhang Anda on Friday evening, after the 32-year-old produced a stirring fightback from 5-1 down to beat Stuart Bingham 6-5.
The Englishman had signalled his intent in the opening frame with a superb break of 101 and raced into a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
Bingham, who needed the UK title to complete the Triple Crown, compiled a break of 105 to go 4-1 up, with his bid for a maximum 147 breaking down after he had potted 14 reds and 13 blacks.
However, after also losing the next frame, Zhang rallied and enjoyed runs of 81, 70 and 108 to force a decider before completing the remarkable turnaround in a tense finale.
