Trump Wins Fifth Title of Marvellous Season
Judd Trump won his 28th ranking title – matching the career tally of Steve Davis – with a 10-4 victory over Ding Junhui in the final of the Huading Nylon World Open in Yushan, China.
Home favourite Ding was outplayed as Trump made two centuries and five more breaks over 50 as he cruised to a fifth ranking title of the season, having previously won the BetVictor English Open, Wuhan Open, BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and BetVictor German Masters. It’s the third time within five years that he has won five (or more) ranking titles in a single campaign, having landed a record six in 2019/20 and five the following season. The only other players to achieve that feat are Hendry (five in 1990/91), Ding (five in 2013/14), Mark Selby (five in 2016/17) and O’Sullivan (five in 2017/18).
Trump and O’Sullivan have been the dominant forces of the 2023/24 season, with five titles apiece (three of O’Sullivan’s have been at invitation events), and the Player of the Year debate could be settled at the Crucible.
MOST CAREER RANKING TITLES
Trump now tied fourth.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan 41
- Stephen Hendry 36
- John Higgins 31
- Judd Trump 28
- Steve Davis 28
- Mark Williams 25
- Neil Robertson 23
- Mark Selby 22
The £170,000 top prize brings Trump’s total earnings for 2023/24 to £1,061,000, the third time in his career that he has reached seven figures for the season. O’Sullivan is ahead of him with £1,155,500, already a record, with the lucrative Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship and Cazoo World Championship still to come. It’s the first time that two players have earned over £1 million in a single season.
Impressively, all of Trump’s five titles this term have come in events with 128-player flat draws, meaning he has had to win seven matches in each of them. Relentlessly determined with strong emphasis on preparation, practice and consistency, world number two Trump shares many qualities with Hendry and Davis, who dominated in past decades. Winning – even when he is not at his best – has become a habit. And his scoring is prolific, with 76 centuries this season; 100 tons for the campaign still a possibility.
Ding missed out on a first ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, and has now lost both of his finals this season, having finished runner-up to O’Sullivan in York in December. The 36-year-old enjoyed an epic 6-5 win over Neil Robertson in the semi-finals but, with so much expectation from his home crowd, could not replicate that success today. The £73,000 second prize lifts him from ninth to seventh in the official rankings, and he is up to fourth on the one-year list, which means he goes straight into the quarter-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship in Manchester.
Breaks of 88, 59, 79 and 78 helped Trump build a 7-2 lead in the opening session. When they returned, the Bristol cueman quickly stretched his advantage with a run of 130. Ding pulled one back with an 84 only for Trump to edge 9-3 ahead with a 106, his eighth century of the tournament. Ding won the 13th to force a mid-session interval.
On a run of 58 in the 14th, Trump missed a tricky thin cut on a red to a top corner. The frame came down to a safety battle on the last red, and Ding missed a chance from distance, handing his opponent the opportunity to clear to the brown to retain the title, having won this event when it was last staged in 2019.
“Ding had been playing really well this week so I thought it was going to be tough,” said 2019 World Champion Trump. “I managed to dig in during the afternoon and get a good lead, then played my best stuff of the tournament tonight. I didn’t want to give Ding the chance to start winning frames and let the crowd get behind him When most of the crowd is with your opponent, you have to use that to motivate yourself.
“As I have got older I have learned not to punish myself when I miss easy balls. I see other players doing that. You are not trying to miss, so there’s no point punishing yourself, you have to forget about it, go back to your chair and wait for your next chance. So much of snooker is in the head, if you can be in the right space mentally then you have a big advantage. I am a lot more consistent in that respect these days.
“It has been great to get back to China this season, I was excited to get back here. The crowds have been massive this week, snooker is growing and the fans here are very young. It’s really promising for our sport.
“I can relax and enjoy the rest of the season, it has been a dream season for me. I’m looking forward to the two events in Manchester coming up, to be playing in the centre of a major city will feel special.”
