Trump Stuns Gould With Fight-Back
Judd Trump made one of the best comebacks of his career as he recovered a 5-1 deficit to beat Martin Gould 6-5 and reach the final of the 888.com World Grand Prix.
Gould played superbly to win five of the first six frames, but couldn’t get over the winning line as Trump dominated the closing stages. The 25-year-old outscored his opponent 395-37 in points as he reeled off five frames in a row.
Bristol left-hander Trump goes through to tomorrow’s best-of-19 final in Llandudno to face Ronnie O’Sullivan or Stuart Bingham, with the winner to bank £100,000. Trump will be seeking his second title of the season, having won the Australian Goldfields Open in July. If he meets O’Sullivan it will be a repeat of the Champion of Champions and UK Championship final, both of which went to the Rocket.
Former Shoot-Out winner Gould made a break of 50 in the opening frame and went on to take it thanks to a cracking long pot on the penultimate red. A break of 87 made it 2-0 to the Londoner. Trump pulled one back with a superb 121 and he looked favourite in the fourth until he missed the yellow to a baulk corner at 34-33. Gould took advantage to make it 3-1.
World number 24 Gould kept his momentum going after the interval as runs of 53 and 111 took him to the brink of victory at 5-1. Trump made a 55 in clawing one back, then got the better of a scrappy eighth frame for 5-3. Trump, growing in confidence as his opponent struggled to regain his fluency, made a 61 in winning frame nine then controlled the tenth for 5-5.
Gould’s attempted long pot early in the decider missed its target and Trump made 37 before laying a tough snooker behind the brown. And from the chance that followed he added 55 to seal the result.
“The way I battled, it’s definitely up there with some of my best wins,” said world number seven Trump. “It was a different approach from me at 5-1 down. A lot of people probably didn’t think I could play like that. I just managed to do what Neil Robertson and Mark Selby do – get through when you’re not playing your best. It was a great achievement to come back today because I wasn’t playing well, and normally I get very frustrated. But I managed to dig in deep.
“I’m delighted to get through. Today showed a different side of my play – I’m proud of the way I battled, and the way I came back.
“Martin didn’t really miss that many balls towards the end. It was just my safety was very good and I didn’t give him that many chances. He didn’t bottle it, he just ran out of momentum and I got better in the second half of the match.
“I’m not bothered who I play tomorrow, I’m just happy to get through to the final. I know I’m going to have to improve if I’m going to win.
“Ronnie’s not playing his best snooker. I don’t think anyone’s played particularly well this week, no one’s on fire. When you get to the final, you do up your game because the crowd is a little bit louder. You get a little bit more support. I think the standard tomorrow will be good.”