World Grand Prix 2024 Snooker: Judd Trump beats Cao Yupeng to advance to final

Judd Trump beat Cao Yupeng 6-2 with a small mid-match break to advance to the World GP final in Leicester.

The match started tentatively with a number of safeties, but a huge misjudgment by the world No. 43, who took the wrong angle and scraped the cue ball into the green, gave Trump his first chance at a decent break.

Trump, the No. 1 seed in this tournament, did not need to receive any further invitations and sank the first pot of the night, but another mistake by Cao brought him 34 points on his second meaningful visit. He then scored another 70 points from the pack to win the opening frame. .

It was only the fourth time the two met, but Trump’s early surgical precision continued in their second meeting, despite some nervous mistakes.

With four players on the red team and four on the black team, the world No. 2 advanced to 32nd place, after which he tried to push through the red team in search of a century. He was one short at 99 seconds with a long pink in the green pocket, but a bright red came down the cushion and lifted a ton to take a two-frame lead.

The Bristolian caught on to more careless play from Cao and found his rhythm with another nice red in the yellow pocket in the third frame, and with a break of 61 he thought he could make it in three more frames. .

That was until he streamed the cue ball from the red into the right corner, but Cao again failed to capitalize, and then took 22 shots, enough for Trump to get over the line.

Cao Cao seemed to be back on track in the fourth, with a long red and yellow to right-center proving he still had some left in the fight.

A bright black followed by another red and black, then a nice yellow stripe across the left middle, green, brown, blue, pink and black at the Chinese level, forcing a re-spot.

Trump stuttering on his own black was penalized on the second attempt, and Cao sank it to take the fourth and give the match an edge going into the interval.

It was a piecemeal for Cao Cao – he hadn’t appeared in a contest in half a century – but a series of small contributions were enough to secure fifth place and a slot for President Trump. was.

After a nice safety from Trump, Cao increased the pressure with a nice red, but Trump was able to stem the tide and regain a two-frame cushion.

China took the lead in the seventh inning with two red cards and one black card, but after playing it safe, Trump regained the upper hand after Cao Cao’s mistake, leaving the cue ball at the top of the table and clinching the world set. Ta. Elevated to 2nd place with big value color.

When Trump cleared the red and added blue, leaving him one spot away from advancing to the finals, doctors ordered a 48-point break.

A 51 break propelled Trump toward victory, but he was stopped by a tricky black man who disappeared from the joint in the distance. Cao had a chance to counter, but the black rattled his jaw and demanded a snooker.

The redness of the cushion effectively dashed any hopes the Chinese had, and all they could do was sit back and watch President Trump put it in the pot. Cao Cao continued to play, but lost with a score of 69-36.

Last year’s defeated finalists will return for another showdown, facing either fresh Masters winner Ronnie O’Sullivan or world No. 11 Ding Junhui.