Yesterday in Manchester brought an unexpected Tour Championship result as Barry Hawkins beat Judd Trump by 10-5. Here is the report by WST:

Superb Hawkins Knocks Out Trump

Playing some of the best snooker of his career, Barry Hawkins stormed to a 10-5 victory over Judd Trump in the quarter-finals of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship to move within two wins of what would be his biggest ever title.

Having beaten Shaun Murphy by an astonishing 10-1 margin in the opening round in Manchester, making five centuries, Hawkins took another huge scalp with a superb performance against world number one Trump, highlighted by a century and six more breaks over 60. The Londoner is the first man into the semi-finals and will meet John Higgins or Xiao Guodong on Friday. 

Hawkins, age 45, has won four ranking titles in his career, most recently the 2023 European Masters, but if he went all the way to the top prize this week it would be his most prestigious trophy and biggest pay day of £150,000. 

Trump has had an outstanding season, winning the Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and Victorian Plumbing UK Championship (where he beat Hawkins 10-8 in the final) but having lost 10-9 to Kyren Wilson in the recent Sportsbet.io Player Championship final, today’s defeat is another blow to his confidence, with the Crucible his next destination.

Leading 6-2 after the first session, Hawkins took the opening frame tonight to extend his lead. Trump pulled one back with a break of 103, his 93rd century of the season, and he had a scoring chance in frame 11 but missed a red to a top corner on 12 and his opponent took advantage for 8-3. A run of 92 gave Trump the 12th, only for Hawkins to hit back with a 121 for 9-4. Trump continued to battle and made an 81 in frame 14, but a missed red to a top corner on 32 in the next proved his last shot as Hawkins sealed the result with an 81 clearance.  

“I didn’t play quite as well as I did against Shaun, but I was very solid and took my chances,” said world number 12 Hawkins, who had lost his six previous meetings with Trump. “It’s not easy to beat the world number one. From 6-2 I kept a good mindset. Judd made a couple of big breaks and I thought ‘here we go’, if he starts finding his range he can get on a roll and win frames fast. If it had gone 9-7 or 9-8 I was bang under it, so I was really pleased with the way I took the match out in the end. Any win over Judd is a great feather in the cap, especially as he had beaten me the last few times.

“I haven’t got a clue what the difference has been this season, I am just going out and playing. I am staying relaxed, concentrating on myself and playing the way I do in practice. I’m not worrying about who is sitting in the other chair. I have been playing for 30 years and I have learned not to be stressed out. This is a bonus tournament for me because it is so hard to get into. I have had a good season and I am determined to enjoy it and not feel any pressure.“

Meanwhile, Mark Selby opened up a 7-1 lead over Neil Robertson in their quarter-final clash. Four-time World Champion Selby will need just three of the last 11 frames on Thursday evening to set up a semi-final with Kyren Wilson or Ding Junhui. 

The opening frame lasted 64 minutes, resolved when Selby got the better of a long safety battle on the final brown. Robertson levelled with a break of 61, before Selby dominated the next four with runs of 69, 105, 86 and 68 to lead 5-1. Robertson had chances in each of the last two frames but couldn’t take advantage, and on both occasions Selby cleared from the last red to extend his cushion.

Barry Hawkins is a much underrated player.He’s far better than most fan believe he is. He’s a fantastic all-rounder. He’s an unassuming person, has no big ego and that is, maybe, why people don’t rate him as high as he deserves. He played very well indeed yesterday and his match against Judd Trump was excellent to watch.

Judd Trump has, so far, got a remarkable season, reaching six finals and winning three of them … but his last tournament win actually came four months ago: on December 1, 2024 when he won the UK Championship … beating Barry Hawkins by 10-8. In 2025, Judd has come close on several occasions but hasn’t won anything.

In the evening, I wanted to watch the Mark Selby v Neil Robertson match … with the usual ” players introduction” razzmatazz it was probably already 9:30 pm or about at my place when the match actually started. The first frame, won by Selby, lasted for over an hour … I’m no night owl … I gave up. When I found out the session score this morning I was surprised but only mildly. That first frame was long but Mark was clearly the better player right from the start of the session.

In other news…

Chang Bingyu has won the 2025 Asia Pacific Open, and doing so, has earned a fresh two years tour card. Chang is one of the young Chinese players who were coerced by Liang Wenbo and Li Hang into match fixing. Chang was only 20 when the affair came to light. He was in dire financial problems: the report into the affair revealed that at the time of his investigation interview with Nigel Mawer of the WPBSA on December 8, 2022, Chang had less than £100 in his bank account and had borrowed money from friends. Chang’s story is one of the reasons I am in favour of a minimal age limit before you can play on tour, especially when it comes to players from outside UK, unless they have family around them to support them. Even if you’re good enough at the table that doesn’t mean that you are old enough and able to cope on your own in every day’s life in a foreign country and a completely different culture.

All the 2025 Asia Pacific Open results are available on snooker.org

Welcome back Chang Bingyu !