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Judd Trump reeled off six frames in a row to beat Kyren Wilson 6-2 and secure his place in the final of the UK Championship for the first time since 2020.
The world number one capitalised on mistakes from his misfiring opponent to extract some measure of revenge for defeats in finals in Xian and Belfast earlier this season.
And while the 35-year-old produced nothing like the form that saw him sweep aside Zhang Anda in the last eight, it proved more than enough to line him up for another shot at the prestigious trophy he last lifted back in 2011.
Asked if his recent high-profile losses had played on his mind, Trump told BBC Sport: “You can’t be going in thinking you’ve lost the last two times, because you’ve got no hope of winning.
“It was a bit of a sticky start and I was thinking, ‘here I go again’. I think we both thought each other was there for the taking so I just tried to play my own game and keep it tight.”
Trump was the one who looked out of sorts in the early exchanges as world champion Wilson made a more solid start, taking the first two frames in far from flawless fashion.
The errors continued in frame three, in which a clever snooker enabled Trump to narrow the deficit, and a break of 100 in frame four saw him level matters at the mid-session interval.
Suddenly it was Wilson who looked vulnerable, and the Kettering man came out on the wrong end of scrappy exchanges in the next two frames to leave Trump in a commanding position at 4-2 in front.
A miss in the next handed Trump the chance to fashion a break of 65 and move one frame from victory, and he completed the job in clinical fashion with his second century of the contest to get over the line.
Trump, who will face either Mark Allen or Barry Hawkins in Sunday’s final, insisted afterwards that criticism of his performance in ‘triple crown’ events – of which he has now reached nine finals but won just four – is unfair.
“I feel like my record in the triple crowns is actually pretty good,” insisted Trump.
“I’ve reached loads of finals and semi-finals, but the difference between winning and losing in a final is that you get forgotten about. That final game is so important, so it’s all about getting over the line.”
