Judd Trump emerged victorious after a fiercely contested battle with John Higgins, winning 6-5 to make the quarter-finals of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
The win for world number one Trump sees him continue to dominate four-time Crucible king Higgins in the recent part of their storied snooker rivalry, which includes two Crucible finals. The Ace in the Pack has now won 12 of their last 13 meetings and leads the head to head standings 19-14, after Scotland’s Higgins had the upper hand in their initial clashes as professionals.
Trump progresses to the last eight, leaving him three victories away from a first UK Championship win since his maiden title in the event back in 2011. Next up is a meeting with former International Champion Zhang Anda.
Despite 29-time ranking event winner Trump’s dominant run, which has seen him top the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, he’s now gone five years without a Triple Crown title. The Englishman last picked up silverware in a Triple Crown event back in 2019, when he defeated Higgins in the World Championship final.
Defeat for three-time UK Champion Higgins is a continuation of his underwhelming recent record in the tournament, where he hasn’t made it beyond the last 16 since 2019 and the quarter-finals since winning the event in 2010.
The opening frames were played out at an attritional pace, as both players struggled to hit their stride. With Trump leading 2-1, a break of 39 from Higgins saw him steal on the black and restore parity heading into the mid-session at 2-2.
The pace of the contest changed completely after the interval and both players went toe to toe in the break building department. It was Trump who made 110 to regain the lead after play got underway, but runs of 58 and 106 gave Higgins the following two frames to lead 4-3.
Runs of 69 and 75 helped Trump to regain the advantage and move one from victory at 5-4, before a steely 66 from Higgins forced a decider.
The Glaswegian had the first opportunity in the final frame, but when leading 34-0 play descended to a potential stalemate with the white lodged in the pack. Eventually, forcing the issue, Higgins left Trump a red to the middle. He ruthlessly deposited it and made 106 to secure victory.
Trump said: “I just tried to speed up a bit after the interval and I thought the game was good after that. The balls were going safe and you are just trying to figure your opponent out. It turned out to be a good game in the end. It was a great century in the last frame. I was trying to buy time hoping for a chance. He probably had to rush and left a tricky red to the middle.
“Every game we play recently is close. Over the last five years I can’t even remember how many deciders we have had. Every single game seems to go down to a decider. Fortunately for me I’ve managed to get the better of him in recent times and today was the same. I held myself together and made a good break to get over the line.
“I think I’m probably eighth favourite, I’m being serious as well. I’ve not played well. I’m still looking forward to playing. Every time you are in the quarters of a tournament like this you are that much closer to winning it. I need to put some work in and find my game.”
On the other table, Zhang completed an epic fightback to beat Stuart Bingham 6-5 from 5-1 down to earn a last eight encounter with Trump.
The early stages saw 2015 World Champion Bingham dominate as he moved 3-1 ahead. He then embarked on a 147 attempt, which ended on 105 after missing the 14th black.
It appeared Bingham had quickly recovered from the disappointment of that miss, when he took the sixth to move 5-1 ahead. However, a brilliant fightback from Zhang saw him take five on the bounce, including breaks of 81, 70 and 108 to clinch a 6-5 victory.
Zhang said: “It was a very tough game. Stuart is a difficult opponent. I didn’t do anything wrong to be 5-1 down. In the second session I didn’t have too much pressure. I didn’t think too far ahead and tried to win.“
The Higgins v Trump match was really strange. Before the MSI both struggled so much it was ridiculous. They played slowly because none of them was able to put anything together and the table quickly became quite “untidy”. You may have thought that the two of them had been replaced by “lookalikes” very average club players… I found it puzzling, unsettling and absurdly hilarious. After the MSI the hapless lookalikes had disappeared and the real players had reappeared. Phew!
Kyren Wilson admitted to suffering from performance related anxiety this week in York, but still scored a 6-2 win over Chris Wakelin to seal his place in the quarter-finals of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
Despite facing some mental demons, Wilson is now three wins away from securing a second Triple Crown title. He claimed his first earlier this year when he became World Champion for the first time in his career, beating Jak Jones 18-14 in the Crucible final.
There’s been no hangover this term from that momentous achievement. He’s backed that up with tournament wins at the Xi’an Grand Prix and the Northern Ireland Open. On both occasions Wilson prevailed in finals against world number one Judd Trump.
The Warrior’s best run in York thus far came in 2021, when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan on the way to the semi-finals, where he lost out to Luca Brecel. He now faces English compatriot Michael Holt for a return to the last four.
It’s a disappointing defeat for Wakelin, but he can take solace for qualifying for a Triple Crown tournament as a member of the world’s top 16 for the first time. The Rugby cueman burst into snooker’s elite tier earlier this month with a run to the International Championship final.
Wilson crafted breaks of 85 and 108 on his way to establishing a 2-1 lead. It had looked like the fourth was going the way of Wakelin, before a missed final black off the spot allowed Wilson to steal and lead 3-1.
After the following two frames were traded, leaving Wilson leading 4-2, the Kettering cueman then made 63 to come from 52-0 down and win the seventh. He then added the eighth to get over the line and book his place in the quarter-finals.
“I’ve felt really anxious this week. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it is that these big Triple Crown events have that much more feel to them. I’m quite aware that this is my time in the game and I want to make the most of it,” said 32-year-old Wilson told Eurosport.
“When I go out there it is fine. My cue action does the work and all of my preparation throughout the years does the work. I enjoy it. I played on Monday and I’ve been twiddling my thumbs for a few days. It is the what if’s. It is horrible and I hate it.
“I thought it was a lot better than round one and if you improve gradually round by round then that is a recipe for success.”
On the other table, Holt earned his place in a first UK Championship quarter-final since 1999, with a thrilling 6-5 defeat of Crucible finalist Jak Jones.
The Hitman was beaten in the last eight 25 years ago when he bowed out 9-6 against John Higgins. Recent years have been tougher for Holt. After falling off the tour in 2022, Holt returned this season thanks to his performances on the Q Tour.
Having trailed 5-2, Holt was extremely demonstrative showing his frustration with himself. However, at that point a switch clicked. Breaks of 86, 68 and 86 helped him to four on the bounce and a massive win.
Defeat will taste especially bitter for Jones, as it ends his hopes of qualifying for January’s Johnstone’s Paint Masters.
Holt said: “I said to myself before today, don’t flop it. I’ve been in these positions before. To be honest I was lucky to win. I’ve had enough chances to win 18 frames. I’m lucky to win, but I take those chances when I’m practising. I just kept punching and kept swinging. Luckily I got over the line.“
Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals text message to ‘best in the world’ Kyren Wilson
Phil Haigh
Kyren Wilson is into the last eight of the UK Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I did send him a text saying “this is your time, go and get as many majors as you can because there’ll be a time when it don’t happen for you”.
‘But he’s got to make the most of it now because he’s got the game in his hands, really.’
Wilson admitted that he hasn’t been feeling great at the UK Championship so far, despite the two impressive wins, with the pressure of the big event perhaps bothering him.
‘I’ll be honest I don’t feel myself this week, I don’t know why. I’ve felt really anxious this week,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what it is. The big Triple Crown events have a little bit more feel to them.
‘I’m quite aware that this is my time in the game and I want to make the most of it.
Wilson has already won two titles since the Crucible, at the Xi’an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I think probably most snooker players have it. It’s just about managing it. We can be playing amazing in practice, come here and it goes tits up. That’s the beauty of the game, you don’t know until frame one how it’s going to go.
‘I don’t know if it’s about being world champion. I’ve just got such high hopes and I just want to win.’
O’Sullivan recognised the feeling Wilson described and praised the world champ’s ability to hide it in the heat of battle.
‘I feel exactly the same as him,’ said the Rocket. ‘But when you’re out there watching him he don’t look like it. Some people are feeling it and they look like it.
‘He’s got something he naturally carries with him, very stoic. It’s a great thing to have in your locker, when you don’t show it.’
I really like Kyren. There is no big ego, no sensationalism about him. Just an ordinary good family man blessed with a far from ordinary talent for snooker and a great temperament. When I hear him in interviews today he comes across as the same guy he was when I first met him at the SWSA some 15 years ago, just a more mature version of him. Success hasn’t changed him much as a person.
Yes, it is too strange how many matches have gone to 6-5 or 6-4 as well as over a long period of time, so the pockets might as well play difficult, maybe even the most difficult they have ever played, I don’t know, I think I’ve never seen so many long best-of-11’s, but still explain someone to me in detail how that is possible when there are the same templates used every time. I still think it is not a malfunction unless I hear otherwise.
My understanding is that because humidity the cloth has become a bit “sticky” including in the jaws of the pockets, therefore the pockets don’t “accept” the ball as easily as they usually do. Only my understanding of course. If someone knows
better, please share.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Yes, it is too strange how many matches have gone to 6-5 or 6-4 as well as over a long period of time, so the pockets might as well play difficult, maybe even the most difficult they have ever played, I don’t know, I think I’ve never seen so many long best-of-11’s, but still explain someone to me in detail how that is possible when there are the same templates used every time. I still think it is not a malfunction unless I hear otherwise.
My understanding is that because humidity the cloth has become a bit “sticky” including in the jaws of the pockets, therefore the pockets don’t “accept” the ball as easily as they usually do. Only my understanding of course. If someone knows
better, please share.