Judd Trump has beaten Shaun Murphy by 11-5 to win the 2024 Shanghai Masters.

Congratulations Judd Trump

Here is the report by WST:

TRUMP TRIUMPHANT IN SHANGHAI

Judd Trump demolished Shaun Murphy 11-5 to win the Shanghai Masters for the first time in his career.

Victory ends a string of heartbreaking final defeats in Shanghai for the Ace in the Pack. He surrendered a 7-3 lead to lose the 2012 final 10-9 against John Higgins. Trump then suffered another 10-9 defeat against Kyren Wilson in 2015 and was beaten 10-3 by Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2017.

Trump had his revenge on the Rocket in the semi-finals this year, bringing to end an incredible winning run. O’Sullivan had won 21 consecutive matches and four straight titles in the event until running into Trump, who thrashed him 10-3 in the last four.

The Englishman was making his first appearance of the season, but has been in sparkling form from the off. He fired in a record ten centuries during the event, beating O’Sullivan’s previous record of eight. Trump pockets £210,000 for the top prize.

Defeat for Murphy means he will have to wait for maiden Shanghai glory. The Magician has now been runner-up on two occasions, having lost the 2019 final at the hands of O’Sullivan. He departs Shanghai with the £101,000 runner-up prize.

Much of the damage was done in the afternoon session, when Trump put on an electric display to move 7-1 ahead. However, Murphy dug deep to take the last two and end 7-3 behind coming into tonight.

When play got underway this evening, Trump re-asserted his dominance and fired in runs of 61, 86 and 114 to move just one from victory at 10-3.

Once again Murphy refused to wilt in the wake of a break building barrage. He crafted consecutive century runs of 110 and 101 to remain in the hunt at 10-5. The comeback was shortlived though, with Trump stamping out any resistance to take the 16^th and win 11-5.

“Shanghai is my favourite city in China. They are all special, but this is one of the first that I qualified for after I turned professional. I’ve been in the final three times and never won before. It was more special playing Ronnie in the semi-final, with him having won it so many times in a row. To beat him was great.”

Judd Trump

Shanghai Masters Champion

34-year-old Trump added: “The age of the crowd in China is so much younger than the rest of the world. I always enjoy playing in front of a fanbase where I can inspire the next generation. I think that is why my record in China is so good.

“I want to win as many big tournaments as possible this season. This is probably one of the top five events on the calendar. To win this one early on is an amazing start. I would like to replicate what I did last season and get close to five wins or even more. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start.”

Murphy said: “In a tournament like this you always have a bad day and unfortunately for me my bad day was today. Every other day this week has been really good. I always keep trying and giving my best. It just wasn’t to be.”

Murphy was asked by media to explain why he playing cards into the crowd at the end of the trophy presentation.

He explained: “I’m the Magician. That is my nickname. They were all signed, because I wanted to give them to the fans as a gift for the great support they have given me throughout the week. There were two sets of cards, so 100 or so lucky people got one.”

TRUMP’S WINNING MOMENT

There is not much to add. Judd has been the best player all week and he might well be the best player all season and in the coming years. At 34, he’s at the peak of his powers and, TBH, hasn’t much opposition in the same age group¹. But he still has to win all those events. It doesn’t come “for free”. To be able to do that, you need a lot of hard work and total dedication as well as talent.

1. Of course, there is Kyren Wilson, our current World Champion and it will be interesting to see how he copes this season. But for some reason Kyren, so far, hasn’t been able to be a consistent competitor for titles over an entire season. Maybe his responsibilities as a husband and father don’t allow him the “single mindedness” that often characterise serial winners. ↩︎