Trump Stars In Stripes

Judd Trump caught the eye with his performance and his outfit as he beat Liang Wenbo 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Dafabet Masters.

Sporting a new striped Christian Dior shirt, Trump looked the part as he fired five breaks over 50 in an impressive win over China’s Liang. World number three Trump goes through to face Shaun Murphy or Ali Carter on Friday afternoon (tickets for that session still available, for details click here).

Now making his eighth Masters appearance, Trump has never reached the final and will hope for a deep run this week at Alexandra Palace.

He took the opening frame today with a 50 clearance. Liang potted ten reds with blacks in frame two and although his 147 hopes ended when he missed a tough 11th red, his run of 80 was enough to make it 1-1.

Bristol’s Trump then pulled away as breaks of 83, 72 and 58 helped him build a 5-1 lead. Liang threatened a fight-back as runs of 58, 139 – the new front runner for the £10,000 high break prize – and 116 saw him close to 5-4.

Liang had a scoring chance early in frame ten, but missed a risky pot on the green to a baulk corner, and Trump punished him with a match-winning 85.

“I thought Liang was negative early in the match, he was over-thinking everything,” said Trump, whose best moment so far this season came with victory at the European Masters in October. “After that he relaxed more and started playing well, he put me under a bit of pressure so I was pleased to take my chance to win 6-4. Every win in this event is a good result.”

As for the outfit, Trump joked: “It’s just a shirt, it doesn’t make me play any better!”