Judd Trump beat Jack Lisowski by 10-7 to win the 2020 World Grand Prix, his sixth ranking event victory of the year. This brings his tally of ranking events wins to 20.
Congratulations Judd Trump !
Here is how the match unfolded (source WST)
Afternoon session – Judd 6-2 Jack
Trump Storms Ahead
Judd Trump is just four frames away from his 20th ranking title having established a 6-2 lead over Jack Lisowski in the final of the matchroom World Grand Prix.
Lisowski is aiming to win his first title but has missed chances at crucial moments, slipping four frames behind. He’ll need to win eight of the last 11 frames when they return for the concluding session on Sunday night. First to ten takes the trophy and £100,000 top prize.
Trump is playing in his 31st ranking final and is aiming to win his 20th ranking title, which would move him ahead of Mark Selby and Neil Robertson into sixth place on his own on the all-time list. Victory would give him his third ranking title of the season, having won the English Open and Northern Ireland Open. He has also lost two finals, including a painful 10-9 defeat against Neil Robertson at the Betway UK Championship two weeks ago.
Bristol’s 31-year-old Trump is aiming to win his 13th title within the past 25 months. If he lands the silverware he will be halfway towards the record tally of six ranking titles he set last season. He is looking to win the World Grand Prix for the third time, having lifted the trophy in 2015 and 2019, and is sure to extend his vast lead at the top of the world rankings.
Lisowski, who has won five of his 12 previous meetings with Trump, has a bare modicum of experience at this level, when compared to his opponent. In ten years as a professional he is yet to win a tournament. This is his fourth ranking final, having finished runner-up to Neil Robertson at both the 2018 Riga Masters and 2019 China Open, and to Mark Selby at the 2019 Scottish Open.
The 29-year-old from Churchdown in Gloucestershire will move up from 15th to a career-high position of tenth if he takes the top prize, while the runner-up cheque for £40,000 would leave him 14th. He has struggled for much of 2020, failing to reach the last 32 of a ranking event until the recent Betway UK Championship, but a run to the quarter-finals of that event turned his campaign around.
Trump took the opening frame with a break of 75. Lisowski gained a foothold in the tie by making a 34 clearance to win the second frame, and he had chances in the third but couldn’t take them and it was Trump who regained the lead.
That proved an important turning point as Trump took the fourth with a run of 122, his 49th century of the season, then extended his lead to 4-1 in a fragmented fifth frame. Lisowski had a scoring opportunity in the sixth but potted just one red before missing the yellow to a baulk corner, and he was punished by Trump’s 75.
Lisowski boosted his hopes of a fight-back with a run of 77 to take frame seven for 5-2. In the last of the session, Trump missed a red on 64, and Lisowski had a chance to clear but ran out of position on the final green. A safety exchange ended with an error from Lisowski, and his opponent slotted the green into a top corner to secure his advantage. They resume at 7pm.
Evening session – Judd 10-7 Jack
Judd Trump, snooker’s most powerful force, finished 2020 in perfect fashion by beating Jack Lisowski 10-7 in the final of the matchroom World Grand Prix.
Trump becomes the sixth player in snooker history to win 20 ranking titles, joining Ronnie O’Sullivan (37), Stephen Hendry (36), John Higgins (30), Steve Davis (28) and Mark Williams (22).
Just two weeks ago, Trump suffered a painful 10-9 defeat against Neil Robertson in the final of the Betway UK Championship. Undeterred, he has bounced back in the perfect fashion by adding to an incredible winning streak which has seen him lift 13 trophies over the past 25 months.
Bristol’s 31-year-old Trump was playing against a close friend today, and was pushed hard as Lisowski showcased his own talent with a fantastic fight-back in the concluding session. But Trump’s self-belief under pressure is beyond doubt and he closed out the tournament to win his sixth ranking title of 2020.
The £100,000 top prize extends his vast lead at the top of the world rankings. He has three ranking titles under his belt already this season and has now won the World Grand Prix in 2015, 2019 and 2020.
Trump will enjoy a well earned rest over Christmas having won 24 of his last 26 matches over a 41-day spell. So impressive is his form and confidence that it is easy to see him achieving a similar level of success in 2021.
Gloucestershire’s 29-year-old Lisowski is still waiting for his first professional title, having now lost four ranking finals. The £40,000 runner-up prize lifts him one place up the ranking list to 14th. And the gifted left-hander can take pride in the way he put Trump on the ropes for much of the final session.
Trailing 6-2 after the first session, Lisowski could have taken the opening frame tonight, but ran out of position on a break of 53. When he missed a long red, Trump pounced with a 66 clearance to extend his lead.
Undeterred, Lisowski stormed back with breaks of 99, 122, 87 and 95 to close to 7-6. In frame 14, Lisowski led 53-5 when he missed a tricky red to a top corner, and Trump regained the initiative with a brilliant 57 clearance.
Lisowski made a 53 in frame 15 as he closed the gap again. Early in the 16th, Trump trapped his opponent in a tough snooker behind the green, and from the chance that followed he made a superb 78 to go 9-7 ahead.
Leading 61-0 in frame 17, Lisowski missed a tricky red to a top corner, and Trump replied with 39 before running out of position on the last red. A safety exchange went Trump’s way, and he coolly cleared the table for victory.
“It was an extremely good game, Jack made it very hard for me,” said Trump. “He played some of the best snooker I have ever seen, everything he looked at was going in. I had to make a couple of really good clearances. The clearance to go 8-6 was massive because I didn’t want him to get back level.
“I had to stay patient tonight and capitalise on the tiny mistakes he made. I’m proud of the way I held myself together and barely missed a ball. That shows the level I had to play to because I still lost the session 5-4. If he keeps playing like that I have no doubt he will be in the top five in the world in no time.
“This is the best start I have ever made to a season and there isn’t much I can improve on. I just have to keep trying to play to this level, keep up the hunger, the ambition and the enjoyment, then hopefully more success will come. When you are number one in the world you have to keep practising because everyone is chasing you, so you can’t let up. The only way to stay on top is to practise harder than everyone else.”
Lisowski said: “I upped my game tonight and put him under pressure, I was on a roll. But I lost a couple of frames from 50 or 60 ahead. The clearance he made to go 8-6 was ridiculous. I’m please to have pushed the best player in the world and made him work for it. It has been an amazing week and my game is going in the right direction.”
Jack can be very proud of himself for the way he fought and came back fro 7-2 down to 7-5 and 8-7. It wasn’t enough eventually, but now I truly believe that it’s only a matter of time before Jack wins a ranking event, and I’m not thinking about the Shootout here, I mean a proper ranking event.
Whether you like him or not, whether you like his game or not, there is no doubt that Judd Trump is the dominant player in our sport right now. Nobody has dominated the scene that way since Stephen Hendry in the first half of the 90th.
“What’s not to like about Judd?” some of you will ask me. Well, there isn’t any rational answer to that. Why do I like coriander – a much hated spice – and why don’t I like pickles? Because I’m me. In snooker, I prefer to watch the controlled game, the precise construction of a break, the perfect touch after an escape, the millimetric snooker. The likes of Ronnie, Ding or Allen keep the cue ball “under their spell”, reaching perfect position shot after shot (almost). It fascinates me. Judd’s more flamboyant style involves too many recovery shots for my personal tastes, BUT, I admire his skills all the same. You would if you’re a snooker fan. He’s matured now, he treats his opponents with due respect, he’s putting the work in. He deserves everything he gets.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I do not want to hate on Judd, but there is a reason why I am not a Trump fan, even if he is the greatest player at this time. Judd does not have much of a media personality, he is awkward in interviews and always reminds me of Allan Taylor’s impression of him. Probably a decent guy privately, but I do not know that side of him. I believe Judd can never be a commentator or a pundit, like Shaun Murphy should be when he retire as a player. As for his playing style he has some amazing single pots, but there are many other players I prefer to watch on table #1, like Ronnie, Mark Williams, Mark Allen, Kurt Maflin, David Gilbert and Marco Fu (if he ever gets back, certainly hope so).
I’m the same Jo. Except that I have met Judd privately. He’s a decent guy and rather shy with people he doesn’t know well actually.
For me, the sheen was taken off Judd’s achievements when I found out it all coincided with him having laser eye surgery.
I can’t work out if it’s snooker’s equivalent of blood-doping or if it’s totally ok and makes his achievements before surgery absolutely remarkable.
And yes, I know there’s more to the game than good eyes but it goes totally unremarked upon by the commentators who all put his recent success down to his brother, the gym and lots of practice, whereas clearly there’s a direct link to the surgery and his success!
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/snooker/judd-trump-playing-blind-before-21011948.amp
Lasik surgery has nothing to do with doping. Before it Judd wore contact lenses when playing. He’s not the only one. Marco Fu does too for instance. They actually needed glasses when not playing at least for tasks requiring perfect vision. Lenses make the eyes drier, leading to irritation and pain. Eventually it can become unbearable. Lasik surgery allows to correct myopy. It has its downsides though. Notably it makes the eye a lot sensitive to bright light and one gets easily dazzled. How do I know? Because I had one… after wearing lenses for nearly 30 years, my eyes couldn’t take it anymore.
I still wonder what it would be like if all the players went for some surgery when their long game looks rusty… He used to miss some balls by a country mile and now he can go weeks without seeming to miss anything!
Very odd that before he had it he was a bit of a nearlyman, and after he had it he’s turned into a machine winning everything in sight (no pun intended)
Perhaps the surgery gave him a general lift in confidence etc, but the question is “what’s not to like about Judd Trump” and my answer is “his recent run started after he had surgery”. I’m not alleging wrongdoing, but it is a bit weird.
It’s not weird. It improved his eyesight. It corrected a problem. Maguire did it too. And maybe others as well. Suggesting that it isn’t right is like suggesting that Ricky Walden shouldn’t have got help for his back. When you have a health issue and it can’t be cured why would you not do it? I was unable to drive befor my lasik surgery, now I do.
I think you have summed Judd up for me perfectly, I couldn’t agree more. I want to like his game, some shots amaze me, but the break building is just painful.
In interviews I think – ‘he’s grown up now’. Next interview – ‘no he hasn’t, back to talking about how he is the greatest, either that or talking about luck’.
Juan – that’s a perfect description 🙂 That expression of “how could I have possibly missed that”, along with the constant recovery shots he needs because of his lack of control (as Monique mentioned) and cueing across the ball, is exactly why I don’t like watching Judd play. No doubt he is good, but not enjoyable to watch in my opinion. Jack on the other hand is great to watch – not Ronnie obviously, but he has some of that elegance in his game.
what drives me nuts is when people say he’s ‘the new Ronnie’. it’s like no, wrong. zero resemblance. you have to be so shallow to think that it’s beyond belief. you look at Trump and you know he’s never read a book
Judd is not the next Ronnie. He’s Juud, and Ronnie is Ronnie. As for “not reading a book”, sorry but you don’t know him, and this is just prejudice. I have a close friend who looks like he might be a simpleton… he actually has a PhD in Maths from Cambridge. Dislike players’ game all you want but don’t make derogatory comments about them as persons. You don’t know them, do you?
have you ever heard him say anything intellectually challenging? something off the script? something not dull? something you didn’t expect? thank you.
You could say the same from most players. Part of it because they are afraid that anything else than the expected and platitudes could land then a fine. Also, most of them left school early.
right, then WST should stop insisting that Ronnie is replaceable from an entertainment perspective by any of the current players. or they should be corrected because that’s, again, wrong. also, somehow players in the 80s weren’t this boring, that’s why they make great commentators. god forbid Trump commentate once
I’m not sure how old you atre Juan, but I suggest to you watch a few of the BBC classic matches, including that famous 1985 final. If you still insist that wasn’t bad and boring – except for the last minutes of it – you need help
oh yes, the game was bad and boring, and I think the 85 final is overfetishized. however, players had personalities. Ronnie talked about it himself a few weeks back.
I think that a lot of players have personalities nowadays as well. I know most of them and there are some right characters in that lot. What has changed though is that “political correctness” has invaded every aspect of our lives. You can’t use certain words, you must be careful not “offend” anyone, not even those who make a job of being offended by everything and anything. If one member the public complains about something a player said or posted… they might be fined. In short everything is “sterilised”. Ronnie is probably the only one who doesn’t care or can’t help himself, and long may it continue. Well there is Mark Williams also.
If things continue the way they are, with Judd (and Selby) winning almost every event and Ronnie being mostly just an afterthought, I think I will probably find myself losing interest in snooker.
same, no point watching
Choose a few young players and watch them develop. God knows, they need some support.
“what’s not to like” is that he has zero personality whatsoever, always has a confused look on his face with his mouth open and takes himself way too seriously. fixed it for ya.