Top Trump

Judd Trump came from 3-1 down to beat Anthony Hamilton 4-3 in the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth, Germany.

Trump takes home 10,000 Euros as well as 2,000 ranking points as the winner of the first event in the new Euro Players Tour Championship series, having won the second professional event of his career following the 2008 Masters qualifier.

The 21-year-old from Bristol, who is now based in Romford, easily won the first frame before 39-year-old Hamilton took the next three with a top break of 68.

Trump won the fifth with a 69 then flew through the last two frames without conceding a point, compiling runs of 97, 40 and 52.

It was the third time in the first five PTC finals that a player had come from 3-1 down to win 4-3; Mark Selby doing so against Barry Pinches at PTC2 then Pinches turning the tide on Ronnie O’Sullivan in PTC4.

It was also a match of contrasting styles but Trump kept his patience to get the result. “For three frames he didn’t leave me anything, he kept me out of it,” said the player who became the youngest to make a competitive 147 at the age of 14. “Anthony’s a tough opponent, horrible to play against at times.

“I beat Shaun Murphy in the semis who had won this event for the last two years. That felt like the big match to me, but then I had to pick myself up again for the final and it wasn’t easy. When I won the fifth frame to get to 3-2 I started believing again, though in the end I got lucky because I fluked two balls in the last frame.”

Trump admits that he has struggled in the past to produce his natural game at venues, but hopes winning this event will help him get over that hurdle. “This has been a brilliant tournament with big crowds, the fans love snooker here in Germany. It’s nice to play well in front of a crowd like that and I hope I can take that in to the next two events in Shanghai and Glasgow.

“I’ve had a really good start to the season which is a total contrast to last season. I’ve been practising harder than ever and I’m going to keep that up.”

Nottingham’s Hamilton, runner-up in the 1999 British Open and 2002 China Open, beat Daniel Wells 4-1 in the semi-finals. The next EPTC event runs from September 30 to October 3 in Bruges, Belgium.