English Open 2024: Judd Trump stunned in Brentwood as Wu Yize reaches second career ranking semi-final
Updated 20/09/2024 at 19:35 GMT+1
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Wu Yize will play either Mark Selby or Ishpreet Singh Chadha in the English Open semi-final after defeating defending champion and world No. 1 Judd Trump to reach only the second-ever ranking semi-final of his career. The 20-year-old avenged a crushing defeat to Trump at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters earlier this month to win 5-3 on Friday and move into the last four.
Trump thunders home long red to open second frame in style against Wu
Video credit: TNT Sports
Defending champion Judd Trump suffered a shock exit at the 2024 English Open as he was beaten 5-3 in the quarter-finals by Wu Yize in Brentwood on Friday.
Wu avenged defeat to the world No. 1 at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters earlier this month, where Trump came from 4-0 down to beat the 20-year-old 5-4 before going on to win the inaugural tournament.
Wu will play either world No. 5 Mark Selby or surprise package Ishpreet Singh Chadha for a place in Sunday’s final.
Trump was in the ideal position to kick things off with a substantial run but missed the black off its spot in a significant early moment.
Wu, looking to reach only his second career ranking event semi-final, stepped up to the baize and blasted in a quickfire century break to signal his intent against the former world champion.
Trump thundered in a long red at the start of the second frame and followed it up with a sublime blue to the right-middle pocket, crashing into the reds to split the pack nicely.
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'Looks a million dollars when he's playing like this' - Wu opens up against Trump with century
Video credit: TNT Sports
A terrific plant followed, but despite the open table Trump ran out of room. Wu looked on course to double his lead when he found an opening until he missed an easy red hanging over the left-middle pocket, which enabled Trump to wrap up the leveller in his next visit.
Trump thumped in a long red at the start of the next frame and this time, managed to edge Wu with his highest break of the afternoon (48) and move ahead for the first time.
In frame four, ‘The Ace in the Pack’ left Wu in an easy red-to-black position which the Chinese player duly capitalised on to begin what could have been a long run. But again, he missed a straightforward pot to the right pocket.
After a period of safety, Wu built on his earlier tally and left Trump needing two snookers, a challenge he initially took on, before realising the odds of success were slim. He conceded the frame and the duo became locked at 2-2.
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Frame five took a while to get ticking, but Wu eventually began potting balls to build a lead of 48 before missing a tricky red. Trump had the chance to punish his opponent and closed the gap to seven points until he missed a tough green.
Things became tense when another attempt on the green from Trump rattled the jaws, before Wu put it away in style to move two frames from victory.
Wu continued his good form as Trump struggled to find any rhythm, and the youngster gave himself three chances to move into the semi-final when he racked up 71 points in successive frames for a two-frame buffer.
He started well as he looked to wrap up the match inside seven frames, but made an error on a red to hand Trump the chance to recover and reduce the deficit. The latter missed a shocker of his own, but was given a second bite at the cherry as he released all his frustration to emphatically pot the remaining colours and stay in the match.
Wu delivered a significant break in the eighth frame to put one foot in the last four, though he gave Trump one last chance to revive himself. But the Brit could not take it, missing a black to the right pocket and falling to defeat.
shocks continue as allen crashes out
world No.3 Mark Allen was dumped out at the last-eight stage following a 5-2 defeat to Chris Wakelin.
The Northern Irishman sealed the opening frame before Wakelin took the next four to race into a 4-1 lead.
Allen hit back with an impressive break of 56 in the sixth frame to reduce the arrears, but could only watch on as Wakelin sealed victory in a dominant seventh frame.
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