Judd Trump today topped off the week where he became the official world no.1 by claiming the inaugural International Championship as well as the top prize of £125,000 defeating Neil Robertson 10-8 in a thrilling final..
As seems to be becoming the norm for tournaments staged in China the packed house in Chengdu were treated to a final full of drama as the pendulum swung both ways throughout the day.
The scene for what was to come was set in the opening session as Trump took the opening two frames only for Robertson to reel off the next four in a row to take a 4-2 lead.Trump leveled at 4-4 but Robertson took the last of the session to lead 5-4 going into the evening.
Robertson would say afterward he felt he should have lead 6-3 going into the second session and perhaps that was on his mind as Trump again won the opening two frames to take the lead again at 6-5.The next produced what seemed at the time to be a pivotal moment as Trump took on a needlessly difficult red right handed and missed allowing Robertson the chance to regain a foothold in the match which he duly took full advantage of the scores now level again at 6-6.The next again looked to be going Trumps way but an unfortunate miscue when among the balls left the door open for Robertson who again showed his class by clearing to take the frame and retake the lead at 7-6 going into the mid session interval.
Things now seemed to be well and truly going the way of the Australian who has a remarkable record in tv finals.He won the next to go 8-6 and now seemed in total control.Trump though as I've said already this week became world no.1 and the one thing all men who have held that position have in common is an ability to produce their best when their back are to the wall.That would again prove to be the case here
The turning point came in a scrappy 15th frame where helped by a fluke Trump won to close within one at 8-7.This seemed to switch the momentum again in his favour and he produced his best snooker of the match to level at 8-8 with a break of 96.Trump was well and truly motoring now and moved within one of victory with a stylish 119,The first century of the final at the perfect time.
The question now was could Robertson again reply but sadly for him he could not as Trump did enough to seal the win and lift the third full ranking title of his career.10-8.This was the perfect end to a perfect week for Judd and I think few would argue that he was a deserving winner based on his form throughout the tournament.The tournament itself has also been a great success with the longer framed matches a welcome feature.You have to feel this event will only grow in stature in coming years and rightfully take its place along side \the UK,The Masters and the Worlds as the sports Majors.
It is of course following a few PTC events in the coming weeks that attention will again turn to York and the UK Championship where Judd will be defending champion.He will go there full of confidence but uneasy rests the head that wears the crown and he will have plenty of the sports big guns lining up to knock him off his perch.That is in the future though for now he can relax on the long flight home and look back on a job well done
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