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:
FRAME HIGGINS! Judd Trump 2-2 John Higgins
Higgins leaves himself a chance at the final red down the left cushion. A smelly shot though... But he’s got it! Rattles both jaws and goes in - gutsy, gutsy pot that.
Surely there are no issues clearing up the colours? They are all pretty well located. And indeed, the four-time world champion makes no mistake!
A break of 40 to clear the table and John Higgins wins frame four to ensure we’re all square at 2-2 at the mid-session interval!
Judd Trump 2-1 John Higgins
Trump back in and he’ll want to finish the frame off at this visit. Tidies up the reds in the middle of the table and he just needs one of the two tricky reds, currently on cushions, to move to a snookers required stage.
But he’s missed the brown, focussing too much on position for the final red. Trump 52-27 ahead but Higgins still in this frame.
Judd Trump 2-1 John Higgins
Trump working mostly with the pink but once he passes 20, he opts to get the black off the bottom cushion with a pot to the right corner. He immediately runs out of positoon though and is left with a tough cut ona red along the bottom cushion - good pot! Although the cue ball runs up to the baulk end of the table.
And the break comes to an end on 30 when the white runs loose and there’s no pot on a red available. Five reds left, all near either side cushion, and Trump leads 38-27.
Judd Trump 2-1 John Higgins
Not a huge surprise, Higgins breaks down once he reaches 27 as he misses a black to the right corner. Trump right in among the balls and there’s plenty of points waiting for him here. He can really put his stamp on the match with a big contribution here. 34 is currently the high breka by either player in this match.
Judd Trump 2-1 John Higgins
Higgins gets in first in frame four. The reds are spread at the business end of the table but a lot of them are blocking each other, meaning it’s not the easiest situation to make a big break.
Neither player has managed to really string together three or four good positioonal shots in a row in this match. Higgins’s break moves to 20 but he finds himself having to pull out increasingly tricky pots. He’s still going with this break for the time being though.
FRAME TRUMP! Judd Trump 2-1 John Higgins
Higgins pulls out a pot on the brown and then the blue. Just pink and black to win the frame but he misses the pink! It’s not an easy pot, with the rest but he leaves the ball in the jaws and it’s simple for Trump.
Judd Trump wins another 40-minute frame to lead 2-1. A lot of work done by Higgins there for no reward.
Judd Trump 1-1 John Higgins
Trump wins the safety battle on the green and makes the pot, so extends his lead to 48-40. He then leaves Higgins in trouble, snookered behind the blue on the bottom left cushion, needing to play the brown ont he top cushion.
First attempt misses, four points to Trump, but he hits it on the second attempt and gets it safe. The world No 1 is now 12 points ahead with 22 remaining.
The average frame time is 38 minutes - not what you might expect from these two. If the match continues at this pace and it’s goes down to the wire, we won’t get this finished before the evening session and the players will have to return later this evening.
Judd Trump 1-1 John Higgins
A couple of nice pots by Higgins as another frame looks to be coming down to the wire but he misses a very pottable blue to the right corner with his lead at 40-35 and he’s left the last red waiting for Trump!
Not an easy table of colours but Judd will fancy his chances of clearing from here. He’ll need to pot up to and including the blue but his cannon on the green goes wrong, so the break ends with Trump leading 45-40. Higgins will need all the remaining colours, Trump just green, brown and blue.
Judd Trump 1-1 John Higgins
The pot of the match so far from Trump as, with the white ball tight to the top cushion, he beautifully powers a red into the bottom right corner from the centre of the table. Stunning! It gives him a great chance to make a decent break here as well, with four reds out in the open and only two potentially tied up on the bottom cushion.
He can get himself right back in the frame. He tries to dislodge the top of those two reds but doesn’t land nicely on one for his next shot. So the break ends at 35 and he trails by three points with three reds still left on the table.
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