UK Championship snooker LIVE: Score and updates as Judd Trump and John Higgins into final frame
World No 1 Trump takes on four-time world champion Higgins with a place in the quarter-finals at the Barbican Centre in York on the line
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Your support makes all the difference.Judd Trump and John Higgins, two of snooker’s biggest stars, face off this afternoon in an intriguing last-16 clash at the UK Championship in York.
Trump, who beat Neil Robertson 6-3 in the first round, is currently world No 1 after winning a remarkable seven tournaments in the past 15 months but is keen to add more major titles to his CV as he tries to win the UK Championship at the Barbican Centre for just the second time, after his 2011 success.
Higgins – who downed He Guoqiang 6-0 in the previous round – is a four-time world champion and three-time UK champion, although it is now almost four years since he last won a ranking event by triumphing at the Players Championship in February 2021. The 49-year-old is one of the greatest snooker players of all time but has a surprisingly appalling recent record at the UK Championship, with three quarter-final losses in the past 14 years his best returns.
The 35-year-old Trump also has the veteran Scot’s number in their recent head-to-head match-ups, winning 10 of the last 11 matches between the pair – starting with an 18-9 victory in the 2019 World Championship final. But writing Higgins off is never a wise move.
Follow all the action from the last-16 clash in our blog below:
Judd Trump 5-5 John Higgins
Higgins will have the first opportunity - Trump looked for the defensive shot but left Higgins with a look and he takes it.
But the reds end up tightly packed and Higgins can’t break them apart. 30 from the Scot. Trump to resume with reds still packed.
Trump 0-30 Higgins
Judd Trump 5-5 John Higgins
Higgins forces the decider after Trump turned down that middle-red. A couple of fortunate breaks to get off and running, but Higgins makes 66 to force the final frame.
5-5 with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs.
Judd Trump 5-4 John Higgins
Higgins misses on the blue and rolls in the red by mistake. Trump takes his time before deciding to not take on the shot of the red towards the middle pocket.
Trump 11-7 Higgins
Judd Trump 5-4 John Higgins
That’s a brilliant break of 75 from Judd Trump. It takes him to the brink of victory at 5-4. It was looking good for Higgins, but his run ended on 23 after poor placement on the blue and Trump took over. He didn’t look back.
Meanwhile, Zhang Anda has come from 5-1 down to force the decider against Stuart Bingham. He has produced a century to force the deciding frame.
Judd Trump 4-4 John Higgins
Higgins wins the safety exchange with a beautiful long red into the right corner, playing the cue ball from close to the baulk cushion. A chance, this, for the Scot to score heavily, with the reds nicely spread... but a poor positional shot leaves him too close to the blue to pot and kills the break before it ever gets going.
Judd Trump 4-4 John Higgins
Trump takes on a tricky red to the right middle and it bounces off the inside jaw and up the table. He would have expected to make it, and now Higgins has a good chance to score – but he gets a cannon into the reds wrong, clipping the pink first, and the break is soon over. He plays safe and leaves Trump in baulk.
Higgins leads 17-1.
FRAME TRUMP! Judd Trump 4-4 John Higgins
After a missed tricky red by Higgins, Trump knocks it in and builds a wonderful 69 break with some tough reds potted along the way. Higgins comes back to the table for a brief safety exchange before Trump wraps up the frame.
All square at the interval.
Judd Trump 3-4 John Higgins
A magnificent century by Higgins! It could have been 130 but for a missed yellow with the rest. Higgins won’t care though – for the first time since frame two, he leads the match.
Judd Trump 3-3 John Higgins
Trump takes on a long red at the start of frame seven and misses by a country mile, so much so that he leaves the white at the top of the table for Higgins to tap in a loose red. The Scot is quickly racking up another useful score...
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