LONDON: England’s Judd Trump defeated John Higgins 18-9 to win snooker’s World Championship final at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Monday.
Victory gave Trump, beaten in the 2011 final by Scotland’s Higgins, his maiden world title and saw him join the list of snooker players to have completed a career Grand Slam following previous successes in the UK Championship and Masters tournaments.
Higgins’s defeat meant the four-time world champion had now lost the last three Crucible finals.
Trump was on the brink of victory at 16-9 when Monday’s evening session got underway and the 29-year-old made quick work of securing the two frames he required to be crowned champion with breaks of 94 and 62.
Trump had been outstanding in winning eight frames in a row on Sunday to establish a 12-5 overnight lead against Higgins.
But the impressive overall standard of both players in this match was shown by an afternoon session on Monday that started with Higgins nearly achieving a maximum break of 147 and ended with Trump just falling short of the landmark.
The 43-year-old Higgins potted all 15 reds, including an outlandish double on the last, as he closed in on a maximum before missing a relatively simple black.
Higgins then won the next as well to reduce the deficit to 12-7.
But Trump, who had needed a final frame to beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and then came from behind in his second-round match with China’s Ding Junhui, stopped Higgins’ fightback with a brilliant 101.
It was his fifth century break of the match.
Trump then produced a composed break of 71 following a poor break-off shot by Higgins as he moved into a 14-7 lead at the mid-session interval.
Trump maintained his form when the match resumed, potting a brilliant opening long red and playing several superb positional shots in a commanding break of 126.
Higgins, with breaks of 67 and 70, at least avoided losing the match with a session to spare before Trump finished the afternoon’s play in style.
There seemed little prospect of a 147 when Trump, on 80, was left with a tough angle on the black and easier colors available to him.
But he made no mistake with a difficult pot and completed yet another century break before narrowly missing a tough red to the left middle pocket.
Judd Trump wins snooker World Championship
Judd Trump wins snooker World Championship
- Victory gave Trump, beaten in the 2011 final by Scotland’s Higgins, his maiden world title
- Higgins’s defeat meant the four-time world champion has now lost the last three Crucible finals
Djokovic launches latest bid for record 25th Grand Slam title
- A former world number one, now ranked four, Djokovic is the undisputed king of Melbourne’s hard courts, having won a record 10 Australian Open crowns
MELBOURNE: A defiant Novak Djokovic launches his latest bid to win a record 25th Grand Slam crown while title contenders Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek are also in action at the Australian Open on Monday.
A bumper second day at Melbourne Park sees three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev, home hope Alex de Minaur and fourth seed Amanda Anisimova also enter the fray.
The 38-year-old Serbian great Djokovic faces Spain’s 71st-ranked Pedro Martinez on the final match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.
A former world number one, now ranked four, Djokovic is the undisputed king of Melbourne’s hard courts, having won a record 10 Australian Open crowns.
He has won 24 major titles, equal for the most ever with Australia’s Margaret Court, but a 25th has remained agonizingly out of reach.
With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner now dominant, Djokovic’s last Grand Slam victory came at the US Open in 2023.
Despite age and injury catching up with him, Djokovic said on the eve of his favorite tournament: “I know that when I’m healthy, when I’m able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, I feel like I can beat anybody.”
He added: “I like my chances always in any tournament, particularly here.”
Russia’s 11th-seeded Medvedev, runner-up in 2021, 2022 and 2024, warmed up for Melbourne with victory in Brisbane and believes he could be hard to beat.
“I know that when I’m playing good there are not that many players that can beat me easily or at all,” he said.
He meets Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands.
Australia’s De Minaur, the sixth seed, will have the Rod Laver Arena crowd roaring him on against 113th-ranked Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.
De Minaur has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.
Title contenders state case
The 21-year-old American Gauff opens proceedings on Rod Laver Arena against Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova.
The third seed won the US Open in 2023 and French Open last year, but her best performance at the first Grand Slam of the year is the semifinals.
Another firm contender for the women’s title is Poland’s Swiatek, the second seed, who has also never gone beyond the last four in Melbourne.
Like Alcaraz, Swiatek is pursuing a career Grand Slam of all four major titles, having triumphed previously at Wimbledon, the US Open and French Open.
Swiatek plays Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue while the American Anisimova, runner-up last year at Wimbledon and the US Open, meets Switzerland’s Simona Waltert.
The 18-year-old Russian talent Mirra Andreeva — fresh from winning her fourth title — takes on Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Other notable names in action include the 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, who was handed a wildcard aged 40 in his last Australian Open before retirement.
Top-10 seeds Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada and Jessica Pegula of the United States also feature on day two.
