Judd Trump believes his decision to skip a couple of events at the back end of this season is paying dividends.
The Englishman, already a four-time ranking event winner during a prolific 2023/24 campaign, continued his World Open defence on Friday by beating Kyren Wilson 5-2.
Trump has been a regular presence at the business end of tournaments this term, with his latest run representing his tenth to the last four of a competition in that period.
The world number two’s consistency over a long period can, in some ways, be attributed to his decision to cut back on his busy playing schedule.
After capturing the German Masters crown in February, Trump opted to pull out of both the Welsh Open and the Championship League.
With a £170,000 top prize on offer at the World Open and lucrative pots on the horizon at both the Tour and World Championships, the 34 year-old is intent on saving his absolute best for when it counts the most.
“I feel quite refreshed,” Judd Trump told the World Snooker Tour ahead of Saturday’s semi-final clash against Jackson Page.
“I think Saudi [World Masters of Snooker] was a disappointing performance, I didn’t play very well there. I scraped through my first game and felt a little bit rusty.”
“I’ve been practicing hard still but haven’t played in that many tournaments over the past month and a half.
“It’s nice to get a run here, and I certainly feel a lot more excited to play snooker than maybe I have done in the past three or four seasons.
“I feel like hopefully I’m timing it well. I can have a good run in this tournament and give me the confidence to carry on for the last couple of big ones left.
“There are more opportunities. I’m not playing brilliantly well, but I’m just doing what I have done all season – managing to scrape through and get the results.
“When you do give yourself a little break and miss events, I do feel like you’re more excited to come back and play.
“You’ve seen that with Ronnie [O’Sullivan] over the last couple of years, and it’s probably for me the way to go, to miss the odd event.
“Having such a good start to the season has helped that as well.
“For me, it’s so hard to win an event and then miss the next event. Mentally it’s tough, because in the back of your head, you’re thinking you’re going to win that next event.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to look at the bigger picture. Maybe I would have gone on and won that next week but then had a bad couple of results and a bad result here.
“Looking at it now, it was probably the right thing to do.”
Standing in Trump’s way of a spot in the World Open final is young Welshman Page, who continued to impress in the scoring department on Friday.
The 22 year-old rattled in breaks of 140, 90, 87, 78, and 76 in overcoming Elliot Slessor and reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career.
The other fixture from the penultimate round promises to be a blockbuster battle, with home favourite Ding Junhui in action against a resurgent Neil Robertson.
World Open Draw and Results
Round of 128 (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-2 Rory Thor
Sanderson Lam 5-4 Gong Chenzhi
David Gilbert 5-0 Anton Kazakov
Fan Zhengyi 5-2 Dylan Emery
Lukas Kleckers 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Dominic Dale 5-3 Marco Fu
Stuart Carrington 5-4 Gary Wilson
David Lilley 5-3 Scott Donaldson
Jak Jones 5-3 Ryan Thomerson
Ashley Hugill 5-1 Anthony McGill
David Grace 5-2 Rebecca Kenna
Kyren Wilson 5-0 Jimmy White
Jamie Jones 5-0 Rod Lawler
Ricky Walden 5-0 Peng Yisong
Ben Woollaston 5-4 Ben Mertens
Iulian Boiko 5-1 Baipat Siripaporn
Mark Selby 5-3 Xing Zihao
Adam Duffy 5-4 Mark Davis
Si Jiahui 5-1 Stan Moody
Long Zehuang 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
John Higgins 5-1 Ross Muir
Jackson Page 5-3 Liam Graham
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Jiang Jun
Wu Yize 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Matthew Stevens 5-3 Hammad Miah
Ryan Day 5-4 Andrew Higginson
Elliot Slessor 5-2 Reanne Evans
Zhang Anda 5-3 Allan Taylor
He Guoqiang 5-2 Jimmy Robertson
Matthew Selt 4-5 Wang Xinbo
Daniel Wells 5-1 Liam Highfield
Mark Allen 5-1 Andres Petrov
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 Alfie Burden
Michael White 5-2 Haydon Pinhey
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Ashley Carty
Aaron Hill 5-4 Joe O’Connor
Robert Milkins 5-2 Barry Pinches
Sam Craigie 5-0 Ken Doherty
Hossein Vafaei 5-2 Liam Pullen
Graeme Dott 5-2 Ian Burns
Cao Yupeng 5-0 Rory McLeod
Noppon Saengkham 5-4 Himanshu Jain
Liu Hongyu 5-1 Jamie Clarke
Ding Junhui 5-3 Zak Surety
Sean O’Sullivan 5-1 Xiao Guodong
Joe Perry 5-4 Martin O’Donnell
Xu Si 5-0 Andrew Pagett
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Neil Robertson 5-0 Victor Sarkis
Tian Pengfei 5-1 Mink Nutcharut
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-3 Stuart Bingham
Yuan Sijun 5-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
Ali Carter 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Louis Heatchote 5-0 Oliver Lines
Chris Wakelin 5-2 Andy Hicks
Jordan Brown 5-1 Lan Yuhao
Robbie Williams 5-3 Andy Lee
Tom Ford 5-2 Ma Hailong
Jenson Kendrick 5-3 Anthony Hamilton
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Steven Hallworth
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Mostafa Dorgham
Pang Junxu 5-2 James Cahill
Oliver Brown 5-4 Mark Joyce
Luca Brecel 5-1 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Round of 64 (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-2 Sanderson Lam
Fan Zhengyi w/o David Gilbert
Lukas Kleckers 4-5 Dominic Dale
Stuart Carrington 4-5 David Lilley
Jak Jones 0-5 Ashley Hugill
David Grace 4-5 Kyren Wilson
Jamie Jones 4-5 Ricky Walden
Ben Woollaston w/o Iulian Boiko
Mark Selby w/o Adam Duffy
Si Jiahui 2-5 Long Zehuang
John Higgins 3-5 Jackson Page
Zhou Yuelong 1-5 Wu Yize
Matthew Stevens 5-2 Ryan Day
Elliot Slessor 5-3 Zhang Anda
He Guoqiang 5-4 Wang Xinbo
Daniel Wells 5-3 Mark Allen
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 Michael White
Lyu Haotian 5-4 Aaron Hill
Robert Milkins w/o Sam Craigie
Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Graeme Dott
Cao Yupeng 5-3 Noppon Saengkham
Liu Hongyu 2-5 Ding Junhui
Sean O’Sullivan 1-5 Joe Perry
Xu Si 3-5 Shaun Murphy
Neil Robertson 5-3 Tian Pengfei
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-5 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 5-3 Louis Heathcote
Chris Wakelin 5-4 Jordan Brown
Robbie Williams 5-4 Tom Ford
Jenson Kendrick 2-5 Barry Hawkins
Stephen Maguire 5-3 Pang Junxu
Oliver Brown 2-5 Luca Brecel
Round of 32 (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-3 Fan Zhengyi
Dominic Dale 2-5 David Lilley
Ashley Hugill 3-5 Kyren Wilson
Ricky Walden 4-5 Ben Woollaston
Mark Selby 5-2 Long Zehuang
Jackson Page 5-3 Wu Yize
Matthew Stevens 1-5 Elliot Slessor
He Guoqiang 3-5 Daniel Wells
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Lyu Haotian
Robert Milkins 2-5 Hossein Vafaei
Cao Yupeng 1-5 Ding Junhui
Joe Perry 3-5 Shaun Murphy
Neil Robertson 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 1-5 Chris Wakelin
Robbie Williams 2-5 Barry Hawkins
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Luca Brecel
Round of 16 (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-3 David Lilley
Kyren Wilson 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Mark Selby 2-5 Jackson Page
Elliot Slessor 5-2 Daniel Wells
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-5 Hossein Vafaei
Ding Junhui 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Neil Robertson 5-1 Chris Wakelin
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-2 Kyren Wilson
Jackson Page 5-2 Elliot Slessor
Hossein Vafaei 0-5 Ding Junhui
Neil Robertson 5-2 Barry Hawkins
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Judd Trump 6-2 Jackson Page
Ding Junhui 6-5 Neil Robertson
Final (bo19)
Judd Trump 10-4 Ding Junhui
Featured photo credit: WST
In the last 10 frames he’s won, Jackson Page has made a break over 70 or higher.