Bingham Retains Narrow Lead

Bingham and Trump shared the session 4-4

Stuart Bingham leads Judd Trump 13-11 going into the concluding session of their Betfred World Championship semi-final, though he may regret missing the chance to go further ahead.

Bingham missed the final pink when set to go 14-9 up, and eventually Trump may feel relieved to escape just two frames behind. But world number six Trump still needs to win six of the last nine frames tonight to reach the final against Shaun Murphy or Barry Hawkins. First to 17 will battle for the title and £300,000 top prize on Sunday and Monday.

Trump, who was runner-up to John Higgins in his only previous Crucible final in 2011, started strongly this morning with breaks of 61 and 91 to draw level at 9-9. But he made several unforced errors over the next four frames as world number ten Bingham surged ahead. Breaks of 67, 62 and 59 helped Basildon’s Bingham, playing in his first world semi-final, to go 13-9 up.

Frame 23 came down to the colours and Trump looked in charge when he gained 36 points from laying snookers on the yellow, which put him  25 ahead. Bingham later laid a clever snooker on the blue, and from the chance that followed he could have won the frame by potting the last three balls. But having slotted in the blue, he missed a tricky pink to a baulk corner, and left it hanging over a pocket for Trump to close to 13-10.

And left-hander Trump finished strongly with a run of 65 to finish just two behind. They return at 7pm.