On the afternoon of January 12, local time, world no. 2 Judd Trump withstood the test of the decider in the first round of the 2022 Snooker Masters, defeating Northern Ireland player Mark Allen 6-5 to advance to the quarter-finals.
At this point last year, Trump was forced to withdraw from the 2021 Masters because he tested positive for COVID-19. In the final inning of the game this year, he scored a single 62 points behind 25 points to win. Trump will face Karen Wilson in the next quarter-finals — a match that will be a play at 9 p.m. Beijing time on Friday.
"I'm very proud to get a chance in the final innings and stay calm, keeping the white ball in place all the time." Trump said, "I'm very happy to be back here and play, it was sad to miss this tournament last year. I wanted to show the audience how much this game meant to me, and I felt like they could empathize with me. ”
"Compared to the British Championship, this tournament is not not the same level - not to say that the British Championship is low. There was an extraordinary atmosphere from the start, and watching the game on TV the first two days made me excited to drive to the venue. I wanted to get through because all the top players were gathered here. ”
Trump, who has already won the "Champions of Champions" invitational tournament last November, is undoubtedly one of the Masters' favourites to win the championship. Mark Allen had won eight of his last 11 games against Trump, but Trump, who blasted a 3-stroke breaker, refused to lose again, and it was crucial to clear the stage and win the eighth inning after exchanging snooker penalties.
"The single shot in the last inning was really great," said 2019 Masters champion Trump, "and I felt like I was the stronger side, but maybe it was just because I scored a little more." Mark (Allen) was equally good at the game, biting very tightly. ”
"Usually I'm super calm and I hold my emotions down. You don't want to do that (in the 8th round to celebrate) and then lose the game. I saw Sean Murphy doing the same at the Crucible Theatre (World Championships) and he didn't mean anything disrespectful about it. I was just so excited that it would be worse if I held this nervous energy in my heart. ”
Losing Allen said: "I only asked for one chance in the last set, I got two, so I was disappointed that I didn't take one of them. I failed to score the penultimate red ball after leading by 45 points at 4-3 and should have led 5-3. But overall Judd played better and was quite proud to be able to hold out until 5-5 draws, and I didn't come up with my best performance. ”
"I always think I can win a tiebreaker, and this kind of scene makes me focus and feel calm. But this time it didn't go well. ”