World Snooker Championship 2019: Judd Trump on the brink of first title as John Higgins clings on
If Higgins was playing snooker worthy of a World Championship final, Trump was playing snooker from another planet
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Your support makes all the difference.It was fitting, giving the ridiculous standards set in this World Championship final at times, that Monday’s afternoon session should begin and end with attempts at a 147 maximum break.
John Higgins had a go in the first frame of the day, pulling off a miraculous 14th red before missing a far easier black with a wry smile. It was enough to get back in contention after trailing 12-5 overnight, and he won the next frame to bring the score back to 12-7 and give a rapt Crucible theatre a sense that it might be about to witness a something remarkable.
But if Higgins was playing snooker worthy of a World Championship final, Trump was playing snooker from another planet. He won the next two frames in style, featuring yet another a brilliant century break which saw him send the cue ball all over the table for the fun of it, and ended the afternoon’s play taking on all sorts of weird and wonderful shots to keep a 147 attempt alive until an agonisingly missed 13th red to the middle.
That was Trump’s seventh century of this final, a record in itself, and the tournament’s 100th – the first time a century of centuries has ever been reached in a single year.
Trump will begin the evening session leading 16-9, only two frames from clinching his first world title, and it seems an inevitability at this point, not just because of the state of the scoreboard but because of the way Trump has carried himself. Every time he has taken to the floor he has owned it, showing off his talent without derailing his game, combining fluid break-building with low-risk strategy, and never leaving Higgins simple opportunities.
It is to Higgins’ credit that this final is still alive and will continue into the evening. He has had to cling on at times but he has also shown exceptional flourishes of his own, and in any other round against any other opponent it might have been enough. But he is facing an inspired Trump who, at 29, has finally come of age. It has taken a while since his only other world final appearance, losing to Higgins in 2011, but it is better late than never, and he will return to the Crucible Theatre this evening with the stage set to write history.
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