Two of the round 2 matches (Last 16) finished yesterday. Here are the reports by WST:
TRUMP STAYS PATIENT TO REACH LAST EIGHT
Judd Trump insisted that he does not feel extra pressure at snooker’s biggest tournament after strolling past Tom Ford 13-7 to reach his tenth quarter-final at the Cazoo World Championship.
Trump has 28 ranking titles to his name – only Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins have won more – but has conquered the Crucible only once, in 2019. Over the next ten days, the 34-year-old has the chance to become only the seventh player to lift the famous trophy more than once in Sheffield. His next opponent will be Jak Jones or Si Jiahui on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I don’t put too much pressure on myself here, I try to relax and enjoy it,” said Trump. “I have the same attitude and will to win that I do at any other tournament. For some other players, winning here means the absolute world, nothing else matters and they forget to enjoy it, but it’s not the same for me.”
As for the match against Ford, Trump added: “I was average. We both struggled. I had to stay patient when my positional play wasn’t good. It’s hard to play your best when you are not being pushed. But I enjoyed being out there.”
Trump, winner of five ranking titles already this season, led 11-5 after the first two sessions, making breaks of 67, 52, 69, 107, 67, 59 and 50. The early exchanges might have been closer if Ford had not missed a red on the verge of a 3-2 lead, which proved a turning point as he fell 6-2 behind.
The Leicester cueman took the opening frame today with a break of 76, then Trump replied with a 107, his second century of the tournament and 78th of the season. Ford pulled one more back before Bristol’s Trump sealed the result with an 84 in frame 20.
Asked about his next opponent, Trump said: “Si is always improving and has been tipped as a future World Champion. He’s similar to me when I was younger because he needs more experience in his shot selection. I have played Jak a few times and he has played some unbelievable stuff against me, plus he seems to love this venue.“
Ford said: “You can get away with one bad session here, but not two. I tried everything, but it didn’t work. I don’t think Judd played that well, I just gave him so many chances.”
Ford didn’t play well at all and Trump, not being pushed, wasn’t at his best either. He didn’t need to. That made for a rather uninteresting match. The writing was on the wall right from session one. Ford started well, it was 2-2 at the first MSI. Then Ford missed one ball as he looked good to go 3-2 up and lost the frame. That miss appeared to play on his mind and it changed the course of the session and of the whole match.
JONES BEATS SI TO SET UP TRUMP QUARTER-FINAL
Jak Jones became the first player in 25 years to reach the quarter-finals on his first two Crucible appearances as he beat Si Jiahui 13-9 in the second round of the Cazoo World Championship.
Having seen an 8-3 lead almost evaporate when his advantage was slashed to 9-8, Jones came good at the business end to get the better of Si in a tense finish. The 30-year-old Welshman will face Judd Trump over 25 frames on Tuesday and Wednesday.
World number 44 Jones reached the last eight on his debut last year and now becomes the first player get that far in his first two trips to Sheffield since Matthew Stevens in 1998 and 1999. He is clearly suited to this event and the longer matches, as he has not reached the quarter-finals of any other tournaments over the past two seasons.
World number two Trump will start strong favourite, and has won four of their five previous meetings, though Jones did score an impressive 6-5 win in the 2018 China Open.
The opening frame today lasted 58 minutes and came down to the colours. China’s Si, a semi-finalist on his debut here last year, got the snooker he needed on the green and later got the better of an exchange on the blue, then potted the last three balls to close the gap to 9-8. Jones made an excellent 44 clearance in the 18th to restore his two-frame cushion, then the next two were shared to leave the score at 11-9 at the interval.
A break of 78 extended Jones’ advantage to 12-9. In frame 22, he led 42-0 when he missed a tricky red with the rest to a top corner. Si battled his way back into the frame and it came down to a long battle on the colours, resolved when Jones slotted the brown into a centre pocket and added blue and pink for victory.
“It’s a relief because it was a shocking match and I’m not sure how I won,” admitted Jones. “I was lucky to be 6-2 up because I won four black ball frames in the first session. I have got a couple of days now to spend time on the practice table, trying to get something together so I am ready to challenge Judd.
“Judd and Ronnie are the best two players at the moment so it can’t get any tougher for me. Everyone expects those two to meet in the semi-finals. He is much more used to the big occasion than me, but I’ve got nothing to lose.”
It was a terrible match but a quite fascinating one at the same time. Si showed tremendous resilience despite struggling badly with his game. He didn’t have the run of the balls either. Jak Jones is a bit of an oddity. He’s a young player but plays like an “old-timer”. He too is extremely resilient, very solid mentally. At times yesterday I was thinking : “No way this guy is only 30… he’s a time capsule out of the 70th-80th“. And that’s no criticism, quite the opposite under the circumstances.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 