Judd Trump wins in style despite being no fan of Crucible conditions

Judd Trump has powered into the second round of the World Snooker Championship with a 10-4 win over Zhou Yuelong, despite saying conditions at the Crucible are ‘not great for snooker’.

The match continued on Wednesday evening at 6-3 from the first session on Tuesday, a scoreline Trump will have been slightly frustrated with after chances to make his lead bigger.

If he was frustrated then he took it out on Zhou and the table as he began the second session with three centuries on the spin.

Breaks of 113, 114 and 114 powered the world number one to one frame from victory, looking like he was in a hurry to get the job done.

Zhou slowed him down in the next, getting his first frame of the night, but only after escaping a nasty snooker from Trump at the climax to get over the line.

However, it was not much of a delay for the 2019 world champion, who returned from the mid-session interval to win the match in the next with a break of 100.

Having been suffering with tonsilitis ahead of the tournament, it was an impressive start to the campaign for the Ace.

Trump looked fantastic, but said he is battling against conditions in Sheffield which do not suit his game.

‘It’s not ideal, it’s quite damp and cold in there for me,’ Trump told TNT Sports. ‘It’s not great for snooker, even though it looked amazing on TV.

‘They’re not my favourite conditions to play in, I think the Masters always plays the best. The time of the year affects it. Being cold and the heating on inside is probably perfect for snooker.

‘It’s difficult because it’s the same every single year, it’s never going to get easier for me. This tournament, how the table plays maybe doesn’t suit my style, it doesn’t play that reactive and that responsive. But if you go out there with enough confidence and put it to the back of your head you can just about get by.’

The world number one said he didn’t feel quite as good as he looked, telling the BBC: ‘I felt a little bit nervy to be honest.

‘I didn’t think I was playing that well, my position wasn’t that good because I was a bit nervous. As the game was going on I felt better every frame.’

It is a brilliant second round contest ahead as the world number one takes on the reigning Masters champion for a place in the quarter-finals.

Murphy has had an excellent season and looked in tremendous form in his opening contest as he knocked off Daniel Wells 10-4.

The Magician made three centuries (138, 133 and 100) and seven more half-centuries, with Wells thoroughly impressed by the winner.

‘I’d be hard pressed to see anybody better than that over a best of 19 match,’ Wells said of Murphy. ‘Just watching him up close, the way he strikes the cue ball is just fantastic I’m going to hopefully see if I can have a practice session with him next season and pick his brains on a few technical things.

‘His cue action, for me, is the best in the game. It’s like watching an exceptional golfer, the back swing and delivery is just special. He makes the balls move around so easily, he bullies the balls. It’s intimidating to play against.’

Murphy was on BBC punditry duty for Trump’s game and said: ‘It doesn’t get much better than that. That was an outstanding performance.

‘That was the performance, possibly, of the round so far.’

Trump’s four centuries against Zhou takes his tally for the season to 98, just two away from the 100 that would earn him a bonus of £100,000.

‘It’s probably not in my mind, but I can feel it in the crowd every time I get close, it gets quite tense,’ said Trump.

‘It’s something I’d like to get out of the way and concentrate on playing Shaun if possible.’

He added on TNT: ‘To play Shaun in the second round of the World Championship, it could easily be the final. To win the World Championship nowadays you’ve got to beat a lot of great players, it doesn’t get a lot tougher than Shaun in the second round.’

Trump vs Murphy is played over three sessions on Sunday and Monday.