Group 2 Final
Judd Trump 6–3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
73-37, 64-43 (60), 114-16 (114), 132-0 (128), 6-113 (73), 93-0 (89), 33-73 (61), 27-93 (66), 81-0 (71)
Group Semi-Finals
Judd Trump 4-0 Stephen Maguire
101-0 (76), 102-4 (102), 69-57, 75 (68)-31
Kyren Wilson 3-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
82-19 (62), 47-63 (63), 0-81 (51), 7-94 (90), 103-24 (102), 102-0 (98), 8-69 (69)
Judd Trump defeated Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 in the ManBetX Champion of Champions Group 2 Final to set up a semi-final clash with Mark Allen at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.
Trump had earlier beaten Stephen Maguire 4-0 in his group semi-final and was the same score ahead of Un-Nooh at the mid-session interval in their best-of-11 group final.
The match was a repeat of Sunday’s final of the Yushan World Open, which Trump won 10-5, the sixth tournament he had won in the last 12 months.
The World No.1 made a flying start but after the break Un-Nooh fought back. A 73 reduced the deficit, but Trump looked on the verge when he took the sixth with a 89 to go 5-1 up. His Thai opponent, though, wasn’t going out without a fight and closed the gap to 5-3 before Trump completed the victory with a 71 break in the ninth.
“I felt good towards the end of the match,” said Trump. “I had a big lead at the interval and a couple of things didn’t go my way towards the end, but I always felt if I had a chance I would take it.
“Recently I have been getting off to good starts and putting opponents under pressure and that was the same today. He was missing a few more than he normally does and I was able to pounce on his mistakes.
“I stayed pretty confident. If it had gone 5-5 I would have been under pressure but I knew I would get another chance and I had the belief I would take it. I have a lot of confidence from the win in Yushan and I am bringing that into this event.
“I saw a little bit of Mark Allen’s match last night. He is an attacking player, I think the table will suit him because it is very, very fast out there and with his cue action that will suit him. It will be a tough semi-final and I’ll have to improve my game from how I played today.”
The group phase of the ManBetX Champion of Champions concludes on Thursday as Ronnie O’Sullivan faces Jimmy White before John Higgins takes on Stuart Bingham.
Featuring tournament winners from the previous 12 months, the ManBetX Champion of Champions is broadcast live on ITV4 and has become one of snooker’s biggest tournaments since launching at Ricoh Arena in 2013. The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy have all lifted the trophy.
The tournament starts with a quartet of four-man groups played over four days from Monday, November 4 until Thursday, November 7. The winner of each group progresses to the semi-finals, with one played on Friday, November 8 and the other on Saturday, November 9. The final on Sunday, November 10 will be over 19 frames.
