Bingham Knocks Out Sick Trump
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Stuart Bingham reached only his second ranking event quarter-final of the season by beating defending champion Judd Trump 4-2 at the Ladbrokes World Grand Prix.
It has been a tough season for World Champion Bingham but there’s still time to win his first trophy of the campaign and he now faces Ryan Day in the last eight in Llandudno.
Trump has been suffering from tonsillitis for several days and made too many unforced errors, albeit mixed in with some trademark brilliant long pots.
Bingham won the opening frame by clearing from blue to black then Trump levelled with a break of 85. Bingham dominated the next two frames as runs of 57, 69 and 72 put him 3-1 ahead.
Trump won a scrappy fifth and had chances to make it 3-3 but couldn’t take them, and Bingham eventually potted green and brown to secure his progress.
“I heard last night that Judd wasn’t well and I thought he might be there for the taking today,” said world number two Bingham. “But as it turned out I didn’t feel well myself before the match so I really had to dig in. Everything was hard work and every ball was a pint of blood. I’m heading back to bed now to rest before tomorrow.”
Trump said: “I’ve been ill for a week and my throat is hurting. I played terrible today. Hopefully I’ll be fit for the next tournament.”
Ryan Day, the only Welshman left in the field, kept alive hopes of a home winner with a dramatic 4-3 win over John Higgins. The standard was high in the first five frames as Day won three of them with top breaks of 104 and 103 while Higgins knocked in 80 and 107. The sixth frame went to Higgins and he looked favourite in the last until he ran out of position on 42. It came down to the colours and Higgins missed two chances at the yellow, the second one over-cut to a centre pocket. and Day seized his chance by clearing to the black for victory.
“I held myself together to make an awkward clearance in the end,” said world number 23 Day, who still hopes to get into the top 16 in time for the World Championship. “It was tense out there and it’s always nice to win a black ball finish.
“It’s one step closer to my target of the top 16 and the prize money here goes up steeply from now. The best thing is that I can watch Manchester United play Liverpool tonight, otherwise I would have been driving home!”