Snooker Masters: England star Trump reaches the top again | Judd Trump | Williams

[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, January 17, 2023]Local time on January 16, 2023snookerMastersIt ended at Alexandra Palace in London.In the final, the 33-year-old England starTrump（Judd Trump) defeated the 47-year-old Welsh “golden left hand” 10-8williams(Mark Williams), after a lapse of 4 years, once again topped the Masters, one of the three major snooker competitions.

The two “left-handed generals” meet in the final

MastersyessnookerOne of the three Grand Slam tournaments in the world, only the top 16 players in the world are eligible to participate. Due to the suspected match-fixing case, the top 16 Chinese players Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao were both suspended. Therefore, no Chinese players participated in this Masters.

In the history of the three Grand Slam competitions, O’Sullivan performed the most outstandingly, winning 21 championships, including seven laps and three championships. Among the active “post-80s” players, Mark Selby has won three major races in one lap,TrumpAlso won a lap. Trump reached the top of the Grand Slam for the first time in 2011 and won the British Championship; in 2019, he won consecutive World Championships and Masters championships, collecting all three championship titles. In the next few years, although he did not win the three major championships, his ranking has always been among the best in the world.

Trump’s opponent in the final is the 47-year-old Williams. This is the fourth time that “Golden Left Hand” has advanced to the final of the Masters. He also became the oldest Masters finalist since Ray Reardon (50) in 1983. The last time Williams reached the top of the Masters dates back to 2003. In the same year, he also won the World Championships and the British Championships, completing the sweep of the three majors in the same year.

In this competition, Trump saved match points consecutively in the first two rounds, staged a lore show, and eliminated Ryan Day and Hawkins successively. In the semifinals, he beat Bingham 6-1. After eliminating Gilbert and O’Sullivan, Williams defeated Lisowski 6-0 in the semifinals, and entered the Masters final after 20 years. The two have played against each other 28 times before, and Trumlu has the advantage with 19 wins and 9 losses. Both are left-handed generals, and both are known for their accuracy. This is the first time the two have faced off in the final.

Trump reaches the top again after 4 years

The final adopts the best-of-10 game system of 19 rounds, divided into 8 rounds in the first half and 11 rounds in the second half. After the start of the game, Williams showed super offensive firepower as soon as he came up, scoring 138 points in a single stroke and winning the flag. In the second game, Trump scored 61 points in a row to equalize the score. In the third game, Trump took the lead 74-11 piecemeal. In the 4th inning, Trump continued to improve his offensive touch, scoring 106 points in a single stroke and taking a 3-1 lead.

Back from the break, Trump scored 73 points in a single stroke to win, expanding his lead. In the 6th inning, Williams felt warmer and scored 140 points in a single stroke; then, he scored 60 points in a row and won the 7th inning. In the last inning of the first half – in the 8th inning, Williams made a mistake in fighting the ball, and Trump seized the opportunity and scored 89 points in a row. After halftime, Trump led 5-3 on aggregate.

In the second half of the game, Williams seized the opportunity of the long table, scored 50 points in a row, and regained another round, temporarily trailing 4-5. In the 10th inning, Trump won with 66 points in a single stroke. In the 11th inning, Williams won with 80 points in one stroke. In the 12th inning, Williams circled the ball and scored 52 points in a row. The two tied the game 6-6.

After equalizing the score, Williams’ confidence soared and he overtook the score 7-6. After Trump won the 14th inning, Williams broke a hundred with a single stroke, maintaining an 8-7 lead. Trump, who was behind, did not hesitate, winning the 16th inning and tying the score to 8-8. In the 17th inning, Trump established an advantage with 59 points in a single stroke and took the lead in getting the match point. In the 18th inning, Trump was unstoppable and scored 126 points in one stroke to seal the victory.

In the end, Trump defeated Williams 10-8, won the second Masters championship in his career, and the fourth in the three personal competitions. He also won a championship bonus of 250,000 pounds. Williams, who missed out on his third Masters title, also earned £100,000.

In this Masters, a total of 11 players scored 30 single-stroke breaks, only one time away from tying the Masters single-break record. Among them, Williams hit 7 single breaks, ranking first. In addition, Williams, Vafi and Trump scored 143 points in the quarter-finals, tied for the highest score in a single stroke, and the three shared the £15,000 bonus equally.

(Reposted from The Epoch Times/Editor in charge: Ye Ping)

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