Judd Trump came back from 3-1, 5-3 and 8-6 down to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the European Masters in Romania.
The final was a classic from start to finish with both players scoring heavily and it times it felt like they were running around the table, such as how quickly both were playing. O'Sullivan went into the first mid-session break with a 3-1 lead, capitalising on some misfortune from Trump in parts of the first four frames and his high breaks at this point were a 53 in the third and 62 in the fourth. Trump then clung on to the coattails of O'Sullivan with a 120 break to get back to 2-3, before the two frame advantage was restored. 82 from the left hander in the seventh made it 3-4 and kept alive his hopes of getting out of the first session all square. Those hopes were dashed when a 55 break from O'Sullivan supported him in winning the final frame of the session and regaining his two frames advantage once more at 5-3.
The evening session set off with the same tone of the afternoon with Trump's high scoring and dominance turning the match on it's head. The first three frames of the session all went his way as "the rocket" only scored 26 points, breaks of 105 and 67 underlined this dominant spell and gave Trump a 6-5 lead. O'Sullivan halted the turnaround and levelled the match at 6-6 going into the final mid-session break with a 93, which was his highest break of the match. His second highest was the 72 in the frame following the break that put him ahead at 7-6 and when he took the next to go 8-6 it looked like Trump would have to do something special again if he had any chance of winning the £56,250 first prize.
From that moment though, he played with the same style that he had in the first three frames of the evening, O'Sullivan only scoring a combined 16 points in the final three frames. A 109 to make it 7-8 was Trump's 400th career century, and after needing a couple of chances to force the decider, he only needed one chance when it came as a break of 74 gave him a famous victory in what was a truly classic contest.
Can the English Open live up to that? Well it will be a tough act to follow when another week of snooker begins tomorrow in Manchester.
If you have missed any of my preview blogs for the English Open here they are:
Stat Attack: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/english-open-stat-attack.html
Tournament Top Ten: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/english-open-tournament-top-ten.html
Overall Preview: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/english-open-tournament-preview.html
Once again there will be updates on the blog throughout the week, as the players get up and go again in this busy part of the season.
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