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Judd Trump Thumps Luca Brecel in Bucharest

Judd Trump looked impressive again as he thoroughly dismantled the challenge of Luca Brecel with a heavy 4-0 defeat of the Belgian in the Romanian Masters on Thursday.

Judd Trump Romanian Masters
Trump has picked up only one trophy this season. Photo credit: Romanian Snooker Masters FB

Trump has lost some of his momentum from the first half of the campaign in recent weeks, particularly after he threw away a big lead in the semi-finals of the Masters in January.

However, the Englishman didn’t appear to have too many worries about him at the Circul Metropolitan as he reeled off runs of 101, 118, 57, and 52 to whitewash the struggling Brecel and move into the quarter-finals of this new invitational.

Trump has fond memories of Romania after his success there in the 2016 European Masters, a tournament he went on to defend earlier this season in, ironically, Brecel’s home country.

The Englishman will face Kyren Wilson on Friday with a semi-final berth at stake, in what will be a repeat of their last four clash at the Alexandra Palace when the latter fought back from 5-2 down to stun Trump in a decider.

Wilson gained a modicum of revenge for his subsequent defeat to Mark Allen in the final in London a couple of months ago by edging the Northern Irishman 4-2 in the last 16 in Bucharest.

While this tournament doesn’t carry any ranking points, Masters champion Allen must surely be feeling the pressure at the moment having dropped to 16th provisionally in the Race to the Crucible standings.

The man immediately behind him in the world rankings list is Ryan Day and the Welshman continued his fantastic form of late by following up his Gibraltar Open glory last week with a 4-2 beating of Barry Hawkins.

Day will also have one eye on next week’s Players Championship as he attempts to break into the top 16 in time to gain an automatic berth in the upcoming World Championship.

Recent Welsh Open winner John Higgins was the other player to progress to the last eight after emerging from a high-scoring encounter with fellow Scot Anthony McGill with a frame to spare, setting up a tie with Day.

The quarter-finals will again be played under the short best of seven formatĀ on Friday with Liang Wenbo taking on Stuart Bingham and Ali Carter facing Stephen Maguire in the other scheduled fixtures.

Live coverage is on the Eurosport Player.

Click here to view the draw. (Times: CET)

 

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