World number one Judd Trump is in danger of a quarter-final exit at the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship as Barry Hawkins continued his tremendous form to take a 6-2 first session lead in Manchester.
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From 2-1 ahead, Trump lost five frames in a row, and he will now need eight of the last 11 when they return at 7pm tonight. Having lost 10-9 to Kyren Wilson in the final of the recent Sportsbet.io Players Championship, Trump will be determined to avoid another defeat which would leave him short on momentum going to the Crucible.
But he faces a tough opponent in Hawkins, who made five centuries in a 10-1 thumping of Shaun Murphy in the opening round and compiled another five runs over 60 today. This is a repeat of November's Victorian Plumbing UK Championship final which Trump won 10-8 but he'll need a huge fight-back tonight to repeat that result.
Trump took an early 2-1 lead before Hawkins levelled with a break of 87. In frame five, Trump led 41-24 when he went in-off trying to get position on the last red, and he later lost a safety battle on the red which allowed Hawkins to take the lead. Early in the sixth, Trump narrowly missed a tricky brown to a baulk corner and his opponent punished him with a run of 79 for 4-2. Further breaks of 82 and 72 allowed four-time ranking event winner Hawkins to built a four-frame cushion.
On the other table, John Higgins finished with back-to-back centuries as he established a 5-3 advantage against Xiao Guodong.
Higgins is aiming for a second title in five weeks having lifted the World Open trophy in March, his first ranking silverware for four years. Xiao, Wuhan Open champion, lost 6-5 to Higgins at the recent Sportsbet.io Players Championship - having led 5-2 - and will hope this time to turn the tie around in his favour when they return on Thursday afternoon.
Scotland's Higgins opened with a 104 then added the second for 2-0, before China's Xiao recovered to 2-2. A run of 79 from Higgins gave him frame five, then Xiao responded with 100 for 3-3. Four-time World Champion Higgins then made a 137 total clearance, the new target for the £10,000 high break prize. And he could have raised that to 139 in the last frame of the session, but missed the pink on 126.
The winners of these two matches will meet in the semi-finals.