World Snooker Championship: Judd Trump beats Thepchaiya Un-Nooh but Mark Allen loses
A review of the action on day five of the Betfred World Championship where Judd Trump progressed to the second round but Mark Allen crashed out.
Trump scrapes through
Judd Trump survived a final-frame decider to avoid joining Ronnie O'Sullivan in making a shock first-round exit at the World Championship.
Trump recovered from 6-3 down overnight and held his nerve to produce a break of 53 in the last frame to edge past Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-9 at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Trump will face China's Ding Junhui in the last 16 in the bottom half of the draw, which has opened up following five-time champion O'Sullivan's defeat to amateur James Cahill on Tuesday.
However, the 29-year-old Masters champion admits he will need to raise his game against 2016 finalist Ding and was probably one of the only players not happy to see O'Sullivan make an early exit.
"I probably play a little bit better when I play the top players, so hopefully now I can raise my game to how it has been in the Masters or a couple of the other tournaments I've won," Trump said.
"All my big titles seem to come when I play Ronnie. I didn't look at it as a good thing him going out, I always cherish playing him and especially at the Crucible it would have been amazing.
"I need to go back and practice properly, stick four or five hours' practice in for the next couple of days and come back as a new man hopefully. The way Neil (Robertson) is playing he's definitely the favourite.
"I'm one of the people that have got a lot to prove here. A lot of the other top players have already won it, so they've got that experience, and I'm hopefully going to be able to settle down and really enjoy the game against Ding now."
Breaks of 82, 62 and 68 helped Trump win six of the first eight frames of the day to lead 9-8, but qualifier Un-Nooh produced a break of 78, his highest of the match, to force a decider.
A risky cross-double set Trump on his way to a break of 53 and, after the break came to an end, Un-Nooh suffered an unfortunate miscue in attempting to escape a snooker and a relieved Trump was able to get across the line.
Allen comeback in vain
Zhou Yuelong withstood a spirited fightback from Mark Allen to claim his first win at the Crucible Theatre courtesy of a hard-fought 10-7 victory over the number six seed.
Yuelong dominated the opening session on Tuesday evening to lead 7-2 overnight and looked set for an early finish when taking the first two frames on Wednesday with the aid of a break of 70 in frame 10.
However, Allen was in no mood to lie down and extended the match past the mid-session interval when reducing his arrears to 9-4 thanks to breaks of 68 and 60.
When Yuelong broke down on 60 in frame 14, Allen calmly stepped in again with a clearance to the pink of 72 to keep his hopes alive before following that with a fabulous century (131) in frame 15 reduce his deficit to 9-6.
Allen kept up the pressure when winning the next frame - his fifth in a row - but Yuelong held his nerve, getting the better of a tense frame 17 to book his place in the second round.
"You can't be playing the way I played in the first 11 frames and deserve to win a match, it was embarrassing," Allen said afterwards. "But looking back I don't think I would have done anything different.
"I prepared as well as I ever have. I didn't go to the China Open, partly because my mother-in-law wasn't very well - she was in intensive care but is over the worst now, touch wood - but also because my game wasn't in good shape, so I went to see Terry (Griffiths, his coach) for a few days and try to get myself ready for here.
"I lost a bit of weight, prepared really well, so it wasn't meant to be. I found a bit of form from 9-2 and really fancied the job from 9-6. It felt like I had him on the ropes and I'm proud of the way I hung on but it's a disappointing end to the season."
Hawk off to a flyer
2013 beaten finalist Barry Hawkins got his latest World Championship bid off to the perfect start when beating Li Hang 10-1.
Hang never really settled but Hawkins looked in good touch, breaks of 84, 85, 77 and 55 helping him end the first session with a commanding 8-1 lead.
Hawkins wasted little time in putting the match to bed upon the resumption and ended proceedings with breaks of 69 and 95.
Carter in command but only just
Ali Carter will take a 5-4 lead into Thursday's concluding session with Jack Lisowski after the former Crucible finalist produced a professional, if not flawless, display on Wednesday night.
After the first four frames were shared, Lisowksi's break of 101 in frame four the highlight, Carter began to take control of the match when winning three frames on the bounce courtesy of breaks of 60 and 70.
It might have been even better for Carter had he come out on the right side of a re-spotted black after he levelled the scores with a clearance of 59 in frame eight.
Lisowksi was handed another boost when Carter broke down when well set in the final frame of the session and the former did enough to reduce his arrears to 5-4 and keep himself in touch in a match that had earlier appeared to be slipping from his grasp.
Wilson holds advantage over Donaldson
Kyren Wilson didn't need to be at his best to build a commanding 6-2 advantage over Scott Donaldson.
Both players enjoyed their fair share of success in the number of scrappy frames that ensued but Wilson, who made a high break of 100, was the stronger throughout and won the last frame of the afternoon thanks to a wonderful snooker that swung the frame and match firmly in his favour.
Wednesday's World Championship scores
- Judd trump 10-9 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Barry Hawkins 10-1 Li Hang
- Kyren Wilson 6-2 Scott Donaldson
- Mark Allen 7-10 Zhou Yuelong
- Jack Lisowski 4-5 Ali Carter