Dominant Trump Into Semi-Finals

Judd Trump showed imperious form as he brushed aside four-time World Champion John Higgins 5-1, to reach the Coral English Open semi-finals.

Prior to the game getting underway, Trump was forced to borrow the waistcoat of his semi-final opponent Barry Hawkins, after leaving his own one in the hotel.

The change of top didn’t deter Trump, he compiled an impressive run of 120 in the opener. Higgins levelled in the second, but from that point the Juddernaught went into overdrive.

With all the reds in the open and the colours nicely placed, he was in position to make the second maximum break of the week. However, an unexpected miss ended his run on 96. Further breaks of 66 and 62 saw Trump move into a 4-1 lead and he took the final frame to round off a commanding performance.

“I played well to beat him last week at the European Masters. I think that was in the back of his mind today. He was worried about my game rather than concentrating on his own one,” said Trump. “As you go through the week, the first few days are quite tough for me.  When you start playing the likes of Mark Williams and John Higgins I get that buzz again and bring out my best form.”

His next adversary Hawkins got the better of a high quality encounter with world number 10 Ricky Walden.

With the score locked at 1-1, Hawkins compiled a run of 69, before Walden responded with 53 in the fourth frame to ensure the pair went into the interval all square.

When they returned Hawkins was dominant. He won three frames in a row to wrap up a 5-2 victory, restricting his opponent Walden to just 35 points in the process.