Judd Trump was left embarrassed after picking up the WRONG CUE before continuing his hoodoo over Scottish snooker legend John Higgins at Wuhan Open.
Trump won 5-2 but a mind blank saw him go into the arena with red-faced with fellow star Ben Woolaston’s cue. World No.1 Trump has now won 11 of his last 12 meetings with Higgins which stems back to the 18-9 thrashing in the 2019 World Championship final.
Scot Stephen Maguire was famously docked a frame when he forgot his chalk in a match against Shaun Murphy. Red-faced Trump, who continued his sensational streak of reaching at least the quarter-finals in every event of 2024, said: “I’ve never done that before!
“Ben Woolaston left his cue by my case during the interval and I must have picked his up. I didn’t realise until I got to the table. It felt strange, I looked down and it wasn’t my cue. Luckily for me, John was very nice about it and let me wait as long as possible. I think it’s happened before and somebody lost the frame, but John was nice enough to give me enough time to get my cue back.”
Trump fluked the green after a lengthy safety battle in the second frame and potted a red off the safety shot in the final frame.
And the Ace in the Pack added: “I didn’t play my best. I just tried to hang in there.
“I got fortunate in one of the frames with the green and then played a safety in the final frame and potted a red. There were a couple of pivotal turning points in that game which went my way and that’s enough to swing a game.”
Meanwhile, former world champion Murphy booked his quarter-final spot with a 5-4 win over Ali Carter. Jack Lisowski whipped Wu Yize 5-0 with breaks of 68, 81, 51, 65 and 117.