Judd Trump won the Coral Players Championship for the second time in his career with a dominant 10-4 defeat of Yan Bingtao in Sunday’s final in Southport.
Trump lifted this trophy back in 2017 and always looked likely to add to that victory once he had picked Bingtao’s pocket in the opening frame of the match, laying the perfect snooker he needed before producing the type of ruthless clearance that had helped him over the winning line in his final-frame decider with Stephen Maguire on Friday.
Bingtao did respond with a break of 55 to win the second frame but it was largely one-way traffic thereafter, Trump producing yet another top-class display that included breaks of 75, 122, 50, 75, 108 and 68.
Bingtao began the evening session with a mountain to climb in the face of a 6-2 deficit but he raised the possibility of staging a memorable comeback by taking the first two frames of the night, a break of 77 in frame nine letting Trump know his younger opponent wouldn’t take defeat laying down.
However, Trump is rarely flustered these days and a brilliant opening long red when the white was chained to the top cushion paved the way for a flawless run of 108 – his second century of the match – in frame 11 and when he added a break of 68 in the following frame, his lead had swelled to 8-4 at the mid-session interval.
A misjudged cannon stopped Bingtao in his tracks when looking to counter in frame 13 and despite snookering himself on frame-ball yellow, Trump closed out the frame moments later to put himself within one frame of a record-equalling fifth ranking title of the season.
An overcut black when well-set on 36 in the following frame saw Trump’s march to the winning line momentarily halted but when Bingtao again ran out of position, Trump found yet another terrific long pot before laying a wicked snooker.
Bingtao’s subsequent escape was good but not good enough and when Trump found a neat pot to middle, the path to victory was clear.
The match had started in promising fashion for Bingtao, the Chinese youngster kicking off the afternoon session with a silky run of 70 but when Trump clawed his way back into the frame before stealing it, the world champion had laid down an early marker.
Bingtao hit straight back to level the scores but that would his only real moment of cheer as Trump took control of the match thereafter, winning the next two frames before extending his lead to 4-1 thanks to a glorious run off 122 in frame five.
The dominance continued as further breaks of 55 and 75 saw Trump reel off the next two frames as the world champion won his fifth frame in a row before Bingtao rallied to keep his faint title hopes alive with a gallant response of 95 in the final frame of the afternoon.
When he returned to claim the first two frames of the evening session, Bingtao would have started to believe he could pull off the impossible, but in the end, normal service was resumed as Trump proved once again that he remains King of the snooker castle.
Trump told ITV4 afterwards: "It's amazing to win another event and pick up my fifth ranking title and equal some of the greats.
"I'm very proud. It's been an amazing last two years for me, winning a lot of trophies, and just to keep winning is very exciting.
"It's been a fantastic week here, I didn't really know what to expect when you come to a new venue but the crowds have been fantastic.
"He (Yan) put me under a lot of pressure, his all-round game is so good for his age so I think in the future he's going to win a lot more events and he's already doing better than I was at his age. He's one to look out for."
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