Judd Trump edged out Mark Williams 10-9 as a blockbuster Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters final came down to the last three frames with half a million pounds on the line.
Trump was either leading or level from the second to the 12th frame, but Williams then won three in a row and the pair were still inseparable at 9-9. Finally, Trump responded in fine style to complete a gripping win.
A seesaw Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters final fell the way of Judd Trump after 19 riveting frames between the evenly matched Englishman and Mark Williams.
Williams stood on the verge of victory after a seemingly pivotal century in the 17th frame, but Trump was saving his best break and fired back 90-0 to force the first final-frame decider in a ranking event for 19 months.
With the bumper £500,000 prize hanging in the balance, Williams reeled off a swashbuckling series of long pots to lead 62-0, but was cruelly denied by the bottom-left corner jaws, giving Trump a sliver of hope.
The world No. 1 kept his nerve, gambling on a risky cannon that opened up the table, and the final went down to the last ball as Trump potted the black to seal an instant classic win.
Trump was comprehensively outscored 1,119-823, but was in the ascendency for almost the entire first half of the final. He held a two-frame lead as late as the 11th, but missed an opportunity to preserve that advantage and ‘The Welsh Potting Machine’ surged back to enter the last interval level.
With a best-of-seven shootout for the victory, Williams continued that momentum to lead 7-6 – his first time in front since winning the opening frame. But in a match that was everything but predictable, the Welshman inexplicably stalled and despite fouling to start the frame, ‘The Ace in the Pack’ stopped the rot 76-30.
Notwithstanding the re-rack drama that opened the 15th, Trump was now in attack mode. Williams did himself no favours overcutting a brown as his break seemingly rattled along towards a half-century and the world No. 1 took full advantage – clipping in a troublesome brown with rest to retake the lead.
The bottom left jaws – which would later halt Williams’ break in the 19th – denied Trump in his attempt to rebuild his two-frame lead though and 8-8 became 9-9 with two more long and decisive trips to the table from each player.
The last deciding frame in a ranking event final was in January 2023, when Trump fell just short against Mark Allen in the World Grand Prix in the contrasting setting of Leicester’s Morningside Arena.
Once again it seemed like he could lose out by the narrowest of margins as Williams built a 62-0 lead but the red he needed to sink instead taunted the Welshman, wiggling in the jaws and allowing Trump a final chance that he didn’t let slip.
Source – Eurosport
