Judd Trump produced an outstanding clearance to win the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters on Saturday in Riyadh.
The world number one looked set to have to accept the runner-up cheque for the second successive ranking event this season.
But trailing Mark Williams 0-62 in the deciding frame, Trump held his nerve in terrific fashion and compiled a gutsy 72 break to pocket the £500,000 top prize.
Success for the Englishman sees him surpass Steve Davis on the all-time ranking event winners’ list.
Trump has now collected 29 titles at this level which takes him into sole fourth in the standings behind Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, and John Higgins.
Some will point to the fact that there are more ranking titles to be won in this era, but win them he does – the 35 year-old proving time and again that he is among the most relentless champions in the sport’s history.
It was a gut-wrenching conclusion for Williams, who was chasing his 27th ranking title and was within a couple of balls of glory in the last frame.
The Welshman had scored the heavier throughout the day’s play, including contributions of 138, 132, 121, and 108.
Trump, by contrast, didn’t quite have his scoring boots on and surprisingly didn’t boast a single century break during the showdown.
Having seen his opponent fight back from 4-1 behind to lead 9-8, however, Trump saved his best for last.
The Shanghai Masters champion made a timely 90 – his highest contribution of the encounter – in the penultimate frame before his miraculous dish at the death to clinch the silverware.
“It’s easy to get carried away in the moment,” Judd Trump told the World Snooker Tour in his post-match interview.
“But it’s probably in the top two or three [clearances], just because of the manner of obviously being the last frame.”
“I had not played my best snooker all day. I was just able to battle away and stay in it, I would probably put it at the top now I think.
“To produce that under the utmost pressure is such a nice feeling. It’s a big event that I was looking like I was going to lose, but I managed to turn it around at the end.
“I was just hoping that it was going to be an easy chance after he missed the red, but he covered it with the black.
“I was playing it with an element of safety – trying to cover it with the black if I did miss it – but I just wanted to be positive.
“When I saw it go in, there was still a lot of work to do. There were two reds safe on the cushion, but I felt like I was starting to hit the ball the best I’d hit it all game.
“There was one shot where I cannoned the two reds out off another red. As soon as that happened, that was when I realised that they’re all there now.
“For me, everything was going in the heart of the pocket, which is a nice feeling. My position was pretty much perfect throughout that whole break.
“I’m not someone who really gets too emotional after I win, but for some reason there, I think there was just so much elation.
“I was back against the wall for the whole game trying to battle away. That feeling, as soon as the black goes in, is disbelief really.
“There was so much adrenaline pumping in my body. It’s probably one of the happiest I’ve ever been to win a tournament.
“It was an incredible feeling and one that I won’t forget for a while.”
The outcome of this tournament is even more remarkable considering Trump was 4-0 behind at the mid-session interval of his opening fixture in the last 32 against Wu Yize.
He admitted to scrolling on Skyscanner looking for early flights home but responded after the break with a barrage of big breaks to prevail 5-4.
Judd Trump has won two of the three tournaments he has participated in during the 2024/25 snooker season so far, his only blip being the final defeat at the Xi’an Grand Prix to Kyren Wilson.
There is no questioning the fact that he is the best player in the world at present, and he has the trophies plus the ranking points to prove it.
2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters draw
Round 1 (bo7)
(Seeds 81-112 v seeds 113-144)
1. Rory Thor 4-0 Omar Alajlani
2. Baipat Siripaporn 3-4 Mohamed Elkhayat
3. Chris Totten 4-2 Haris Tahir
4. Michael Holt 4-0 Ahmad Abul
5. Mink Nutcharut 4-1 Kusai Hamed
6. Reanne Evans 0-4 Simon Blackwell
7. Artemijs Zizins w/o Lim Kok Leong
8. Robbie McGuigan 4-3 Abdulraouf Saigh
9. Liam Graham 4-0 Ali Hussain Ali
10. Oliver Lines 4-0 Faisal Bahashwan
11. Cheung Ka Wai 4-1 Joshua Thomand
12. Lei Peifan 4-2 Bai Yulu
13. Allan Taylor 4-2 Adeel Aqdus
14. Farakh Ajaib 4-0 Haitham Al Mahri
15. Julien Leclercq 4-2 Dylan Emery
16. Jimmy White 4-2 Mohamed Shehab
17. Andrew Pagett 4-2 Wang Yuchen
18. Huang Jiahao 4-0 Ahmed Elsayed
19. Ben Mertens 4-0 Abdullah Alotayyani
20. Antoni Kowalski 4-1 Habib Sabah
21. Gong Chenzhi 4-0 Ali Jalil Ali
22. Mitchell Mann 3-4 Paul Deaville
23. Bulcsú Révész 4-2 Iulian Boiko
24. Dean Young 4-0 Saleh Alamoudi
25. Mostafa Dorgham 1-4 Jonas Luz
26. Haydon Pinhey 4-0 Ayman Alamri
27. Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Amir Sarkhosh
28. Zak Surety 4-0 Ali Alobaidli
29. Duane Jones 4-1 Khalid Alkamali
30. Liam Davies 4-3 Ken Doherty
31. Kreishh Gurbaxani 0-4 Sunny Akani
32. Stan Moody 4-0 Ziyad Alqabbani
Round 2 (bo7)
(Winners of R1 vs seeds 49-80)
33. Hammad Miah 1-4 Rory Thor
34. Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Mohamed Elkhayat
35. Ashley Carty 4-0 Chris Totten
36. Liu Hongyu 4-2 Michael Holt
37. Anthony Hamilton 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
38. Xing Zihao 4-2 Simon Blackwell
39. Xu Si 3-4 Artemijs Zizins
40. Ma Hailong 3-4 Robbie McGuigan
41. Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-1 Liam Graham
42. Ben Woollaston 4-2 Oliver Lines
43. Louis Heathcote 4-2 Cheung Ka Wai
44. Jamie Clarke 3-4 Lei Peifan
45. Aaron Hill 2-4 Allan Taylor
46. Stuart Carrington 4-2 Farakh Ajaib
47. Graeme Dott 4-3 Julien Leclercq
48. Andrew Higginson 1-4 Jimmy White
49. Alexander Ursenbacher 3-4 Andrew Pagett
50. Martin O’Donnell 4-0 Huang Jiahao
51. Long Zehuang 0-4 Ben Mertens
52. He Guoqiang 0-4 Antoni Kowalski
53. David Grace 2-4 Gong Chenzhi
54. Ian Burns 0-4 Paul Deaville
55. Mark Davis 3-4 Bulcsú Révész
56. Alfie Burden 4-3 Dean Young
57. Jiang Jun 4-1 Jonas Luz
58. David Lilley 2-4 Haydon Pinhey
59. Ross Muir 3-4 Amir Sarkhosh
60. Sanderson Lam 4-3 Zak Surety
61. Daniel Wells 2-4 Duane Jones
62. Marco Fu 4-0 Liam Davies
63. Tian Pengfei 4-2 Sunny Akani
64. Liam Pullen 1-4 Stan Moody
Round 3 (bo7)
(Winners of R2 vs seeds 17-48)
65. Robert Milkins 3-4 Rory Thor
66. Fan Zhengyi 3-4 Jimmy Robertson
67. Anthony McGill 1-4 Ashley Carty
68. Ricky Walden 1-4 Liu Hongyu
69. Jamie Jones 2-4 Anthony Hamilton
70. Stuart Bingham 4-2 Xing Zihao
71. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Artemijs Zizins
72. Chris Wakelin 4-2 Robbie McGuigan
73. Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
74. Joe Perry 0-4 Ben Woollaston
75. Joe O’Connor 4-3 Louis Heathcote
76. Robbie Williams 3-4 Lei Peifan
77. Matthew Selt 4-3 Allan Taylor
78. Pang Junxu 4-3 Stuart Carrington
79. Graeme Dott w/o Sam Craigie
80. Si Jiahui 4-2 Jimmy White
81. Jack Lisowski 4-3 Andrew Pagett
82. Matthew Stevens 3-4 Martin O’Donnell
83. Stephen Maguire 4-0 Ben Mertens
84. Wu Yize 4-0 Antoni Kowalski
85. Jackson Page 2-4 Gong Chenzhi
86. Neil Robertson 4-1 Paul Deaville
87. Jordan Brown 4-3 Bulcsú Révész
88. David Gilbert 4-0 Alfie Burden
89. Zhou Yuelong 4-2 Jiang Jun
90. Elliot Slessor 4-2 Haydon Pinhey
91. Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Amir Sarkhosh
92. Yuan Sijun 4-1 Sanderson Lam
93. Xiao Guodong 4-3 Duane Jones
94. Lyu Haotian 4-3 Marco Fu
95. Scott Donaldson 4-2 Tian Pengfei
96. Ryan Day 4-2 Stan Moody
Round 4 (bo9)
(Winners of R3 play each other)
97. Rory Thor 0-5 Jimmy Robertson
98. Ashley Carty 2-5 Liu Hongyu
99. Anthony Hamilton 3-5 Stuart Bingham
100. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 Chris Wakelin
101. Hossein Vafaei 3-5 Ben Woollaston
102. Joe O’Connor 2-5 Lei Peifan
103. Matthew Selt 3-5 Pang Junxu
104. Graeme Dott 0-5 Si Jiahui
105. Jack Lisowski 5-2 Martin O’Donnell
106. Stephen Maguire 4-5 Wu Yize
107. Gong Chenzhi 1-5 Neil Robertson
108. Jordan Brown 3-5 David Gilbert
109. Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Elliot Slessor
110. Noppon Saengkham 4-5 Yuan Sijun
111. Xiao Guodong 5-2 Lyu Haotian
112. Scott Donaldson 5-2 Ryan Day
Round 5 (bo9)
(Winners of R4 vs Top 16 seeds)
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Liu Hongyu
John Higgins 2-5 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ding Junhui 4-5 Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Lei Peifan
Zhang Anda 5-0 Ben Woollaston
Tom Ford 2-5 Si Jiahui
Luca Brecel 2-5 Pang Junxu
Judd Trump 5-4 Wu Yize
Jak Jones 3-5 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson 5-2 David Gilbert
Mark Selby 3-5 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 3-5 Elliot Slessor
Barry Hawkins 1-5 Scott Donaldson
Mark Allen 1-5 Xiao Guodong
Round 6 (bo11)
Kyren Wilson 4-6 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 6-2 Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 Zhang Anda
Si Jiahui 6-5 Pang Junxu
Judd Trump 6-1 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson 1-6 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Elliot Slessor
Scott Donaldson 5-6 Xiao Guodong
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Jimmy Robertson 0-6 Mark Williams
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 Si Jiahui
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Xiao Guodong
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Mark Williams 6-3 Si Jiahui
Judd Trump 6-5 Shaun Murphy
Final (bo19)
Mark Williams 9-10 Judd Trump
Featured photo credit: WST
Trump and O’Sullivan both have three titles this year but clearly Trump is off to a flier this season. He came through three deciders to win an event that I bypassed as a viewer but followed the scores.
There’s definitely recency bias when it comes to “best player in the world” comments in snooker. But if we look at the last five or so years period, Trump has won about 25 titles which is incredible really.
David, it’s pretty clear that Judd is almost ready to go from Pink to Black on your rating system, though he needs to win one more rating event to do it. As you say, he really is number one right now with a good lead on the field.
Good spot, yes. He’d be a deserving member of that group of players, no doubt.
He’s been the best player of the last five years but I’d still take O’Sullivan’s A-game ahead of his. Last season O’Sullivan was the rightful Player of the Season.