July was a very quiet month of tour action, mainly as the
snooker players were given a bit of time off for the summer, meaning the only
event in July was the Australian Open. Judd was the stand out man of the
tournament and eventual champion beating home favourite Neil Robertson
convincingly in the final 9-6. To get to the final he overcame Rory McLeod,
Alan McManus, Ricky Walden and Xiao Guodong, and he certainly looked to be back
to his best form throughout the event, making him an incredibly dangerous
prospect for the rest of the season (which he’s since proved).
Judd Trump 5-4 Ricky Walden – Ricky Walden had Judd in
really deep trouble early on in this match as he led 3-0 with breaks of 104, 72
and 47 to put himself into a very commanding position. Judd has a much improved
temperament these days though and he dug in superbly. A fabulous 110 kept him
in the match going into the interval before he won a scrappy fifth to close to
just a frame behind at 2-3 and that seemed to be the key frame as Judd kicked
on in the next with an 86 to level the scores. Unfazed from watching his 3-0
advantage vanish, Walden went one ahead with two to play thanks to a
contribution of 80. Ricky looked in a superb position to win the match as a
break of 49 had him 45 points ahead in the eighth, but a counter break of 77
from the left hander took the match into
a deciding frame, where Judd only needed one chance with a run of 85 sealing a fantastic
comeback victory.
Judd Trump 9-5 Neil Robertson – In the final, Judd was in
for a tough match against home crowd favourite Neil Robertson and he’d have
known that after all of the tough matches they’d had in the past, particularly
their world quarter-final from just a couple of months previous where Robertson
came back to make the semi-finals. As I say though, Judd has learned from these
tough matches and tight defeats to become an improved player with a better
temperament. The first six frames of the final were shared at 3-3 before Judd
went on a superb run to win five frames on the trot either side of the session
break, with contributions of 55, 114 and 101 helping him to within a frame of
victory at 8-3. Breaks of 45 and 109 from Robertson kept the match alive at 5-8
and you had to wonder if a comeback was on, but Judd killed any thoughts of
that in the fourteenth frame as a run of 51 helped him take the frame and the
title, which was his first since the International Championship in November
2012 20 months ago.
When Judd is on top form he’s one of the best and most
exciting players to watch in the game of snooker and he’s certainly turned
things around since the beginning of the 2014/2015 season with brilliant
performances in the European Tour events and in major events as he showed
winning the Australian Open but also in making the Champion of Champions and UK
Championship finals as he is a much improved player in all aspects of his game.
You can tell from the results and the impact that it’s had on his game that
Judd is now focussed on his snooker, and is working as hard now as he’s ever
done in his career. If he continues that hard work, with the amount of talent
he has, he will win big titles by the bucket full just as idol Ronnie
O’Sullivan has in his career and it won’t be long before Mr Trump is a World
Snooker Champion.
Judd is certainly one of my top contenders for player of the year, but who will be my next contender as I take a look back at the month of August tomorrow? Well you know where to look to find out.
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