Stephen Hendry identified what cost John Higgins victory in a four hour epic with Judd Trump.
The Wizard of Wishaw had made a commanding start to his 33rd UK Championship, with breaks of 110 and 92 as he breezed beyond China’s He Guoqiang 6-0 in the opening round. And he led world number one Trump after seven frames, before crashing out after a gripping four hours of play – which was only decided by a tense 11th frame in front of a packed York Barbican.
Trump had dominated the recent head-to-head having won 11 of their last 12 meetings – out with the Championship League – including a 5-2 victory at the Wuhan Open earlier this year. But in front of a capacity crowd at the York Barbican the opening exchanges proved more of a tense battle of tactics, as both players struggled to get to grips with a table described as “super fast” by BBC commentator Stephen Hendry – and that had previously been slated by Trump.
But that made way for a marathon 42 minute first frame, which Higgins pinched with an excellent clearance – despite having trailed by 40 points at once stage, making it his longest frame victory over Trump in more than two years. World number one Trump hit back, taking a a slightly shorter second frame to level things up – with Higgins passing up a number of good chances to double his lead, before missing the pink altogether when attempting to play a safety shot, and Trump also took the third frame – another 40 minute epic. Before another excellent clearance saw Higgins win the fourth to square things up at 2-2.
The pace picked up considerably in the fifth frame, with Higgins missing a red in the middle and Trump taking full advantage – with a blistering century moving him back ahead. But Higgins fought back, securing a 58 break – his biggest of the match – to once again level things up. He started the seventh frame with a first century of the game – clocking up a superb 106 break to lead 4-3 – before the players exchanged wins to set up a final frame decider, which Trump triumphed in.
And Stephen Hendry, a five time UK Championship winner, said: “It’s always the easy stuff that lets you down. It’s never the difficult stuff. John Higgins has made two really difficult clearances, he’s potted some excellent long balls. But at the end of the day he’s missed two or three blacks off the spot. It’s the easy stuff that has cost him.”
Commentator John Parrott agreed after a mistake from Higgins in the deciding frame gifted Trump the chance to end a spell of deadlock, adding: “He will absolutely be kicking himself. It’s almost like he overthought that. This will be a sore one for John, his long game was outstanding, his competitive spirit is still there. But that mistake is going to prove extremely costly.”