Judd Trump has won the 2021 Championship League Snooker Group 4 yesterday, surpassing Stephen Hendry’s 775 centuries tally in the process.
Here is the report on WST website:
Trump Reaches Winners’ Group
Judd Trump beat Mark Selby 3-0 in the Group 4 final to advance to Winners’ Group of BetVictor Championship League Snooker at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
The World number one concluded his victory with a 102 break to take his career century tally to 778, now outright third on the all-time list, having overtaken Stephen Hendry’s 775 earlier in the group. Trump had come from two frames down to beat Kyren Wilson 3-2 in his semi-final, a total clearance of 131 in the decider setting up the final with Selby.
Leicester’s Selby also reached the final by winning a deciding frame; he beat Mark Williams 3-2 having been 1-0 and 2-1 down.
“The way I closed out the last three or four games, I played some of my best stuff,” said Trump. “I was pretty consistent the whole way through, played a good game against Jack and Kyren played well to beat me [in the league phase].
“In the end I had to dig deep against Kyren in the semi-finals. I made a really good comeback and played really well against Mark in the final.”
On surpassing Hendry’s tally of career centuries, Trump added: “It is special for me. People try and discredit it because there are more tournaments, but I am still at a better frame per century ratio and I am scoring as heavily as anybody has scored.
“I have to keep doing my thing on the table, playing the way I play, making my breaks and enjoying myself. Over the next couple of years there is a chance for me, if I can keep this form up, to win as many titles as possible.”
Trump will join Zhou Yuelong, Graeme Dott and John Higgins in Winners’ Group from April 1-2, with three more places left to be earned in the big-money conclusion to BetVictor Championship League Snooker.
Barry Hawkins will join Wilson, Williams and Selby in Group Five having finished fifth in Group Four, where they will be joined by newcomers Joe Perry, Ali Carter and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Tom Ford and Jack Lisowski have been eliminated from the event having finished sixth and seventh respectively in the group.
BetVictor Championship League Snooker sees 25 of the game’s elite players compete for their share of a total prize pot of up to £205,000.
Group Five begins on Wednesday, February 10. Live scoring will be available at www.wst.tv. Group fixtures and results can be found at http://www.championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/
Follow BetVictor Championship League Snooker on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest news and scores from Stadium MK.
PLAY OFF RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
Judd Trump 3-2 Kyren Wilson
2-101 (100), 6-121 (121), 69-52 (69, 52), 118-0 (51, 67), 131-0 (131)Mark Selby 3-2 Mark Williams
16-84 (84), 67-37 (52), 54-64 (Selby 50), 99-36 (83), 72-49THE FINAL
Judd Trump 3–0 Mark Selby
100-5 (62), 72-25, 103-0 (102)FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
P W L FW FL PTS Money Won Judd Trump 6 4 2 15 8 4 £6,300 Mark Selby 6 4 2 12 10 4 £4,100 Mark Williams 6 3 3 12 12 3 £2,800 Kyren Wilson 6 3 3 11 11 3 £2,700 Barry Hawkins 6 3 3 11 12 3 £1,100 Tom Ford 6 2 4 13 14 2 £1,800 Jack Lisowski 6 2 4 8 15 2 £800
Jack Lisowski didn’t play well at all. I hope that the heavy defeat at the hands of Judd at the German Masters is not affecting him too much.
As for Judd’s reaction to people “discrediting” his achievements, I can understand it. He’s the best player and the heaviest scorer at the moment. He works hard and deserves what he gets.
Comparing players of different eras is always difficult and probably meaningless. The tour structure has changed, the way the ranking and seeding work has changed, there are more tournaments, which offers more opportunities, but is also more demanding. The conditions have changed, different tables, faster cloth, different balls … The only thing I strongly believe is that the very top players of the past would probably thrive on the current conditions as well … but how well would they actually do is just guess work.
Ronnie starts today in Group 5, and it’s an extremely tough group. It’s also excellent match practice.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I admit I don’t read everything religiously (this blog, Ronnie-fans posting links to matches and info on whatever newsfeed comes up on my phone, which is ES or WST), but while I often see how Trump keeps complaining about not getting enough respect for his achievements, all I read or hear in commentary is how wonderful he is and finally we have a rightful king to report to, happy days and he second coming arrived. Since I’m sure he is not bothered about my intense dislike for him 🙂 , I don’t know why he feels slighted – or I’m missing something.
Not sure Csilla. Probably because he doesn’t feel loved by the fans like Ronnie or Jimmy are.