Monday 7 July 2014

Australian Goldfields Open Trumps Triumph

Judd Trump finally brought an end to his 20 month ranking title drought yesterday,when he beat home favourite Neil Robertson 9-5 to lift the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open title.

In a match that probably never really lived up to its potential it was the 24 year old from Bristol who produced the better snooker to deny Robertson the home victory he craved as well as the chance of collecting back to back ranking titles following his win in Wuxi last week.

It had been Robertson who had gotten off to the better start to lead 2-1,but things were quickly level again at 3-3 before Trump produced runs of 55 & 114 to lead 5-3 going into the night session.

The first frame of the night could have gone either way but it was Trump who took it on the colours to extend his lead to 6-3.That became 7-3 when he also took the next and he followed that up with a  beautifully crafted 101 break to move to the brink of victory at 8-3.

Robertson of course hasn't enjoyed the success he has in his career by rolling over and he started to find some form taking the next two to close to 8-5. There was to be no fairytale comeback here though as Trump took the frame he needed to clinch a fine 9-5 win.

Thinking back to the last ranking event that Trump had won (2012 International Championship) and the way he was playing then,it is hard to believe that ranking title number four has been so long coming,but such has been the decline in his form during that period that many were indeed starting to question were his best days already behind him?

This is a pressure though that Trump has always been under,ever since his heroics at junior level put him on everyones radar as a certain future champion,with this seemingly being borne out by his run to the World final in 2011.What we have to remember is that Judd is still only 24 years old and at a time where the average age of title winners is creeping into the 30's again he still has plenty of time to live up to his potential.

The fact that he decided to play both here and in Wuxi certainly points to player determined to make an impact this season.

As for Robertson defeat here in the final for a second successive year will be hard to take but he can console himself that he has at least picked up where he left off last season and this current run has put him back to the top of the world rankings.

Snooker takes a break now for the month of July.but what we have seen over the last couple of weeks sertainly whets the appetite for whats to come over the autumn and winter months. The fact that we can now throw the name Trump back into to potential tournament winners pot,only adds to what already looks like being a fascinating season.