Ronnie O’Sullivan v Judd Trump LIVE: Snooker updates as stars clash in Saudi semi-final
The two sporting icons square off in the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker, with a place in tonight’s final up for grabs
Ronnie O’Sullivan will look to keep his impressive start to the year going when he takes on Judd Trump in the semi-final of the World Masters of Snooker in Riyadh this afternoon.
The 12-man event is the inaugural tournament to be held in Saudi Arabia, featuring a prize pot of £788,000 and a controversial new Golden Ball worth an additional 20 points, extending the maximum possible break to 167.
O’Sullivan who has already won The Masters and the UK Championship among other events this year, breezed past John Higgins 4-0 in his quarter-final match to reach the final four.
Trump, meanwhile, who lost to O’Sullivan in the World Grand Prix final, will hope to enact revenge having won 4-3 in a tight encounter against Shaun Murphy in his quarter-final match.
Follow all the action from Saudi Arabia below:
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-1 Judd Trump
O’Sullivan breaks off in the third frame but Trump lands a long pot to sink the opening red. He misfires off the brown in the follow up and gives O’Sullivan a chance.
He’s on a red to the bottom right.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-1 Judd Trump
This is a tight frame still. Trump, with a lead of 13, can’t get over the line and decides to play safe. O’Sullivan leaves the green on and Trump rolls it home before nestling in the brown too.
He was made to work for it by O’Sullivan who played some fine shots off the back foot but Trump tidies up the table and draws level in the match.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-0 Judd Trump
Trump manages to snooker O’Sullivan as a bunch of reds are knocked over to the left side of the table. Trump comes down the cushion and gets it to land.
This is a tough table to clean up but he fancy taking the frame from here.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-0 Judd Trump
Another tense frame developing here. O’Sullivan takes 36 point lead before a couple mistakes from both players sees safety shots pulled out.
Trump slowly gets 12 points on the board but leaves nothing on for O’Sullivan to go at.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-0 Judd Trump
Judd Trump will be annoyed about that frame. He was twice in control of it and twice let things slip away from him. Ronnie O’Sullivan took advantage and will hope to continue that as the match goes go.
Trump breaks off for the second frame.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 1-0 Judd Trump
With a lead of 50, Trump errs and lets O’Sullivan back into the contest here. He slots in three of the remaining reds and has strong positional play for the remaining balls.
In no time the break moves to 22 and when the black drops, followed by the remaining red O’Sullivan is 20 behind with all the colours remaining.
He pots and plays off the black to set up the yellow. The drops too, then the green and the brown. As the blue falls into the middle left pocket, O’Sullivan takes the lead and holds it by cleaning up the pink and the black.
He wins the frame 72-58 and goes ahead in the match. That break was 64 and O’Sullivan strikes first.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 0-0 Judd Trump
After a shaky start to the frame, Trump settles down and works his way around the table with a finely tuned break off 33 to take him above 50.
He leads by 45 with 67 remaining on the table.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 0-0 Judd Trump
Mistake! Trump leaves a routine red over the pocket which brings O’Sullivan onto the table trailing by 20 points. Can he take advantage from here?
No! O’Sullivan bobbles a red out of the pocket trying to smash open the rest of the pack. His break ends at 8.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 0-0 Judd Trump
That is naughty from Trump. He slips a red in from the middle of the table and follows up with the black to get this break started in perfect fashion.
A fine slice to the bottom left pocket sees a second red drop but he’s forced to bail out on the blue and the golden ball is removed from the table.
This could be a big break from Trump now.
Ronnie O’Sullivan 0-0 Judd Trump
O’Sullivan breaks off first and skims the bottom red before leaving the ball safe near the top cushion. Trump fancies taking on a long pot but skirts both sides of the bottom left cushion yet leaves nothing on for the Rocket.
Interesting start to this one.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies