Barry Hawkins avenged his German Masters defeat to Judd Trump yesterday: he beat him bu 10-7.
Here are the reports by WST:
Hawkins Edges First Session
Barry Hawkins leads Judd Trump 5-3 after the first session of their Cazoo Tour Championship quarter-final at the Celtic Manor Resort.
Last time the pair met was at the recent German Masters. On that occasion Hawkins surrendered a 5-1 advantage to lose 6-5, as Trump went on to clinch the title. The Londoner will be hoping not to suffer a similar fate this evening.
Trump has racked up five ranking titles so far this season, with victories at the English Open, Northern Ireland Open, World Grand Prix, German Masters and Gibraltar Open. The Ace in the pack is aiming to equal his own record of six in a single campaign, which he set last season.
The Hawk flew out of the blocks this afternoon, making breaks of 70 and 90 to establish an early 2-0 advantage. However, world number one Trump hit back to pull within one, before firing in a century run of 119 to make it 2-2 at the mid-session.
Hawkins claimed the first frame when play resumed and then moved 4-2 ahead by stealing the sixth on the black. A further run of 63 saw Hawkins establish a three-frame cushion, but Trump claimed the last of the afternoon with a contribution of 98 to end at 5-3.
Hawk Downs The Juddernaut
Barry Hawkins produced a superb display to beat world number one Judd Trump 10-7 and reach the Cazoo Tour Championship semi-finals at the Celtic Manor Resort.
Hawkins gains revenge for an agonising 6-5 defeat at last month’s German Masters, where Trump battled back from the brink at 5-1 down. The Hawk now only trails Trump by one in the head-to-head, with the Bristolian leading 6-5.
Defeat ends Trump’s hopes of breaking his own record of six ranking titles in a single season. The Ace in the Pack has won five ranking events so far during this campaign with just the World Championship to go.
Hawkins now faces World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last four on Saturday. The Londoner will be hoping to transform his fortunes against the Rocket, having only beaten him twice in their 16 career meetings.
It was Hawkins who came into this evening’s concluding session with the advantage, after he emerged from this afternoon’s play with a 5-3 lead.
He extended that to a three-frame cushion when they resumed, firing in a sublime break of 121, before taking the tenth to move 7-3 in front.
Trump refused to wilt and breaks of 64 and 86 made it 7-5 at the mid-session interval. He picked up where he left off and continued to exert pressure, firing in a run of 86 to pull within a single frame.
Hawkins stopped the rot to move 8-6 ahead and a steely contribution of 61 then allowed him to move a frame from victory. Hawkins was in position to kill the game off, before breaking down on 45. That presented the opportunity for 2019 Crucible king Trump to fire in 94 and make it 9-7.
A nervy 17th frame saw both players spurn opportunities, as it came down to the colours. Hawkins eventually got himself over the line with a straight long brown to emerge the victor.
Hawkins said: “I tried my heart out, you are obviously going to in a tournament like this. I just tried to give it everything, I wanted to stay as calm as I could. That match at the German Masters came into my head a few times. I just thought that I’d played well all the way through the match today and when he left me that long brown at the end of the match, I knew I had to go for it.
“Sometimes you can’t help but get negative thoughts now and again. Everyone can play well, it is how you deal with things going wrong. Behind closed doors in the cubicles everyone plays so well. When you get on the TV table it is a different sort of game and a different sort of pressure. It is how you deal with that.
“I have to tell myself to have that self belief. I’ve just beaten the world number one, who has been dominating the game for three or four seasons. I’ve got to take that confidence into the semi-finals. I now have to focus on that Ronnie game and keep doing what I’m doing.”
WST carefully avoided to report Judd’s reaction … he was rather ungracious as usual. Here is what he said, reported by Eurosport:
“From the get go, he missed quite a lot of long balls and got away with them. That’s just how it goes sometimes,” said Trump.”On another day, with the amount of balls he missed, if he left me half the chances, it could easily have been the other way around.
I’M NOT TOO DISAPPOINTED. THE GAME GOES LIKE THAT SOMETIMES. I’VE PLAYED A LOT WORSE THIS SEASON AND WON TOURNAMENTS.
“If I could have got back to 7-7 or 9-8, I felt the pressure was on him. I missed a couple of balls at the end because I was a little bit tired.”
Barry wasn’t impressed, as reported by Phil Haigh on twitter:
It’s always hard for the losers to get interviewed minutes after a defeat. To his credit, Judd came on zoom a bit later, admitting that Barry deserved the win
This was also reported by Phil Haigh on twitter:
Barry will play Ronnie tomorrow. About Ronnie this VERY good news has transpired on twitter
So Ronnie finally has his own proper Star table installed at his mother’s place!
Today, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson will do battle. Based on their first round respective performances, Mark has to be favourite. But every day is different.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Yeah, that’s great news about Ronnie getting a table. I have to think the timing is no mere coincidence, and that Ronnie is planning to put in some proper practice for the World Championship.
Monique – do you happen to know how far Ronnie’s mother’s home is from his own?
Not sure, but probably not very far away at all. He has a very close relationship with his mother, always had.
Thanks, I’m sure you’re right that their homes are not far apart. I wonder if Ronnie will invite another player over to practice with him, or if he will just practice by himself. I get the impression that players find it more valuable to practice with someone else, though I don’t 100% understand why that would be the case since it seems to me that snooker is a game that one could play quite usefully against oneself…
If you practice on your own you are unlikely to be challenged with unexpected situations. If you play practice matches with another player, you have a competitive side that is missing in solo practice and you are more likely to find yourself in situations that you can expect to face in real matches.
Hurray, hurray, happy that Ronnie finally has his table.
Every time Ronnie is in a tournament I try to maintain strict neutrality about the other matches, especially when the winner will play Ronnie, lest karma bite me in the backside. But yesterday’s outcome, and that is totally independent of Ronnie, is a joy and was a reason for serious celebration. Of course, WST did not report Trump’s reaction, he is their blue-eyed child, the way they big him up each and every time just leaves me befuddled. Ever so grateful I won’t have to see him on Saturday.