Following his defeat to John Higgins five days previously at the UKPTC4 event in Gloucester, Judd Trump has tonight gained a measure of revenge against the four-time world champion to win the ET4 tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Having progressed to the final with victories against Dave Harold, Andrew Higginson and Mark Davis earlier in the day, Judd Trump tonight recorded a convincing 4-0 victory against John Higgins to end his run of final defeats to Scot.
With Higgins having survived the challenge of 2010 world champion Neil Robertson in the semi-finals, a close final had looked to be in prospect, but with top breaks of 88, 63, 47 and 42, Judd wrapped up the title in under and hour in front of a lively crowd.
It could have been even better for Judd as with the reds nicely placed, he missed the one awkward red down the right side-cushion in frame three, when in with a chance to make the first maximum break of his professional career.
The 147 will come though and his relief to have finally won a final against Higgins was obvious when he spoke to the crowd in the moments following his victory. It was interesting however to hear him say after the match that:
“I have been in four finals now this season and I feel as if I can win every tournament I enter, as long as I don’t have to play John.”
Regardless, the victory marks his second triumph this month following his recent victory in the International Championship and also sees him become just the third player to have won more than one event this season, joining Higgins and Stuart Bingham in that exclusive club. The result also consolidates his position at the head of the rankings, as well as confirming his participation at the PTC Grand Finals in 2013.
For Higgins, while I am sure that he would have loved to have won the tournament, he did not look to be too disappointed post-match and having earned 3,600 ranking points in the last week, he can be very happy with his work overall.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Tom Ford’s 147 on Friday was an obvious highlight, while the likes of Mark Davis, Ben Woollaston, Rory McLeod and Andrew Higginson all earned important ranking points following their respective tricky starts to the season.
Next up for the players is a rare day off, before the all-important UK Championship qualifiers begin on Tuesday…