Judd Trump emerged from the opening session of the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters final leading Mark Williams 5-3, following a captivating afternoon of snooker in Riyadh.
144 players descended on Riyadh on August 30th for the first ever staging of a ranking event in Saudi Arabia. Nine days later just two players remain to contest snooker’s most lucrative ever game, where the winner will pick up £500,000.
Trump has been in imperious form this season, having won 14 of the 15 matches he’s played. He won the Shanghai Masters for the first time and was runner up to Kyren Wilson in the recent Xi’an Grand Prix.
Welsh 49-year-old Williams has long professed that he wishes to still be in the world’s top 16 when he turns 50. That feat is guaranteed, but victory today would see Williams rise from ninth to fourth in the world.
The first two frames this afternoon were fiercely contested, with Williams taking the first and 2019 World Champion Trump restoring parity by stealing the second on the black. Trump then claimed the next two to head into the mid-session clear at 3-1.
When play resumed 28-time ranking event winner Trump extended his lead, before two sublime century breaks of 121 and 132 from Williams made it 4-3.
Huge levels of tension shrouded the last of the session, with Williams missing four opportunities to level. Eventually an overcut pink to the left middle cost him dearly, with Trump securing a 5-3 lead.
They return to play the best of 19 encounter to a conclusion at 8pm KSA.