Judd Trump won five consecutive frames as he surged into a 6-2 lead over Chris Wakelin at the end of the first session of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open final in Belfast.
Having recovered from a slow start to size control of the contest, Trump now needs just three more frames to complete a hat-trick of three ranking titles in a row. The match resumes at 7pm on Sunday with Wakelin needing to take seven of the last nine frames to land the Alex Higgins Trophy.
Trump is chasing a rare piece of snooker history as victory would make him only the fifth player to win three consecutive ranking titles. The others are:
Ray Reardon. World Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976
Steve Davis. Classic, World Championship and International Open in 1984 and World Championship, International Open and Grand Prix in 1988
Stephen Hendry. World Championship, Grand Prix, Asian Open, Dubai Classic and UK Championship in 1990 (five in a row) and International Open, World Championship and Dubai Classic in 1993.
Ding Junhui. Shanghai Masters, India Open and International Championship in 2013.
Already this month, Bristol’s 34-year-old Trump has captured the BetVictor English Open and Wuhan Open, his winning streak covering 19 consecutive matches. He is aiming for his 26th ranking title, which would put him above Mark Williams into fifth place on his own in the all-time list.
Trump, playing in his 41st ranking final which equals the tally of Steve Davis, is looking for his fourth Northern Ireland Open success having lifted the trophy in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Regardless of today’s result he will be third in the official world rankings, but victory would bring him close to leader Ronnie O’Sullivan and second-placed Luca Brecel, setting up a potential three-way battle for top spot at the International Championship which starts on November 5. Trump is also sure to extend his advantage at the top of the one-year list and the BetVictor Series rankings.
Wakelin’s previous biggest career moment came in January this year when he won the BetVictor Shoot Out, beating Julien Leclercq in the one-frame final. Otherwise, he had never been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event before this week.
But the 31-year-old from Nuneaton has played excellent snooker this week, knocking out the likes of Shaun Murphy and Jack Lisowski. He is already guaranteed £35,000 but the top prize of £80,000 would be a career-high pay day. Currently ranked 25th, he will climb to 21st if he loses today and 18th if he wins.
Wakelin could become the first right-handed winner of this tournament, as since its inauguration in 2016 the only champions have been left-handers: Mark King, Mark Williams, Trump and Mark Allen.
The omens are not good for Wakelin as he has lost all 11 of his previous meetings with Trump, including a dramatic Crucible battle in 2018 which Trump won 10-9.
Wakelin had a chance to steal the opening frame today from 55-0 behind, but missed a thin cut on the black off the last red, allowing Trump to take it on the colours. In frame two, Trump trailed 28-52 when he made a safety error on the yellow, and his opponent punished him for 1-1. Wakelin’s break of 87 put him ahead, and he had a scoring chance in the next but made only 15 before running out of position. Trump fought back to 2-2 and dominated frame five to regain the lead.
A run of 97 doubled Trump’s advantage to 4-2. In frame seven, Wakelin made 53 before losing position, and had to stay in his seat as Trump made a tremendous 63 clearance, converting several difficult pots to keep the run going. That may prove a pivotal moment of the final, as Trump had the momentum to finish the session strongly with a break of 96 and establish a significant cushion.
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