Day two from the Tempodrom and this time there was to be no escape for world number two Judd Trump, as the reigning International Championship winner lost out in a decider to veteran Anthony Hamilton. Click below for a round-up of the day’s results…
Less than 24 hours after he won the last two frames against James Wattana to avoid an early exit last night in Berlin, Judd Trump could not produce a similar escape act today, as he lost in a deciding frame finish to Anthony Hamilton today.
Trailing 3-1 and 4-2, Judd was on the backfoot for much of the match, however with a top break of 58, it appeared as though the world number two might complete another comeback as he drew level at 4-4. It was not to be for the man from Bristol however, as the experienced Hamilton made a break of 57 in the decider, to help him into the last 16, where he will meet Ali Carter.
With early exits at both the UK Championship and Masters in recent tournaments, like John Higgins it would appear that Judd is struggling to find his best form at the moment and it will be interesting to see how both react as the run-up to the Crucible intensifies over the next few weeks.
Another early casualty was Scotland’s Stephen Maguire, who was today a shock 5-0 loser against Mark King, who previously had not enjoyed too much success against last season’s beaten finalis. At the time of writing, Mark is currently locked at 4-4 with Welshman Matthew Stevens in their last 16 battle.
There was however to be no trouble for Masters finalist Neil Robertson today, as the Australian dropped just two frames in defeating Michael Wasley and Andrew Higginson en route to the quarter-finals, a break of 141 against Wasley proving to be the highlight.
Others through to the quarter-finals were Barry Hawkins and Michael Holt, while Peter Lines defeated his second former world champion in as many days, as he won the last four frames of his match against Ken Doherty to progress to the last 16 stage.
Due to work commitments I have not been able to see as much as I would have liked from this tournament so far, but judging by the ever-reliable source which is Twitter, it is interesting to hear a few complaints about the outside tables, while Anthony McGill suggested earlier that the venue would be even better, with just a couple of tables and a partition.
What do you think? Let me know @prosnookerblog on Twitter, as the action continues from Berlin tomorrow…