Jak Jones beat Judd Trump

World Snooker results: Qualifier Jak Jones stuns Judd Trump to reach the Crucible semi-finals

By Chris Hammer

Snooker

Wed May 01, 2024 · 8M ago

Jak Jones produced a huge shock at the World Championship by defeating one of the Crucible favourites Judd Trump to reach the semi-finals.

The 30-year-old qualifier was underdog heading into the final session despite the scores being level at 8-8 but capitalised on Trump's error with a very accomplished display under pressure to run out a 13-9 victory and will next face Ronnie O'Sullivan or Stuart Bingham.

Jones is currently ranked 44 in the world and only ever reached one ranking semi-final back in the 2022 Gibraltar Open - although his record at the Crucible is certainly beyond his status in the game.

Having reached the quarter-final on debut last season - beating Neil Robertson along the way - he's now won five of his six matches on this most famous of stages and is now two victories away from becoming only the third qualifier to win the famous title after Terry Griffiths in 1979 and Shaun Murphy in 2005.

Trump, the 2019 champion, appeared to struggle with conditions throughout the match and his morning was summed up by a missed pink which opened the door for Jones to move 11-9 ahead with a break of 61.

The mid-session interval did nothing to refocus Trump's mind, another easy miss, this time on the yellow, compounded his woes and Jones didn't relent by moving within a frame of victory.

With the winning line in sight, Jones held himself together with all the poise of a seasoned professional, clearing the table for his second century of the morning which confirmed his place in the last four where either O'Sullivan or Bingham will await.

Jones is now preparing for the biggest match of his career by far - and possibly against the sport's GOAT who is bidding for a record-breaking eighth Crucible crown and a clean sweep of Triple Crown titles in the same season.

However, that still won't convince his mum to come and watch him play live for the first time in his career.

Jones said: “She won’t even watch me on the TV. At home now when I’m playing she’ll be doing the ironing or cleaning the house, that’s what she likes to do to keep herself occupied.

“She doesn’t like watching me, she pretends it’s not happening and waits for my dad to call her with the result. A Crucible semi-final is obviously a different matter and maybe she will come up, but she won’t come into the arena.

On his victory, Jones added: “I thought Judd struggled quite a bit. He started off with a century, just looking like typical Judd, but after I went in 3-1 at the interval I thought he was playing really slow.

“He wasn’t the fast-flowing aggressive player that he usually is. I noticed it from the beginning and it kind of surprised me, and I took advantage.”

As for Trump, he joked that defeat may have been a blessing in disguise after failing to set up a dream semi-final with O'Sullivan in a repeat of the 2022 final.

He said: "In a way he's done me a favour because I'd have lost 17-0 to Ronnie playing like that!"

Trump also felt his season which saw him win five titles had still been a roaring success overall despite his Crucible disappointment, which he felt was down to tiredness and struggling to cope with Jones' slower player.

He said: “I felt like I had a lot of chances and I didn’t take them. I had more than enough chances today to win, so I only have myself to blame.

“A lot of the frames were quite slow and I got bogged down. His pace definitely affected me, but that’s not his fault. I just needed to get in and clear up every time, and I didn’t do that.”

Gilbert secures last four spot

David Gilbert secured his second career Crucible semi-final with a 13-8 victory over Stephen Maguire.

The damage was done in the opening session which Gilbert won 7-1, but Maguire fought hard in the second session and reduced his arrears to 10-6 ahead of Wednesday’s resumption.

The Scot continued to battle away and won two of the first three frames of the day, only for Gilbert – who made three centuries in the match – to shut down any hopes of a Maguire comeback by dominating the next two to complete the job with little fuss.

Gilbert plunged out of the world’s top 16 in recent years amid a period of personal strife, and admitted he had no expectations of success and admitted after a season with a solitary ranking quarter-final appearance to his name, he had entered the qualifiers with few expectations.

“It was pretty much an impossible thought not long ago, and I think it’s a massive achievement,” reflected Gilbert.

“We’re only talking five weeks ago that I sat and said, ‘can I be bothered to play the quals? I’ll just turn up to take the 10k and that’ll be that’.

“I’ve tried to destroy my career as much as possible, I was in self-destruct mode basically. It’s an incredible turnaround and I’ve got a lot of confidence, probably more than I’ve ever had. I’m motivated to prove to myself that I can go out and play.”