World Snooker Championship: Trump beats Higgins 18-9 to win 2019 final (original) (raw)

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Ok, I’m out - we’re done for another year I’m afraid. Ta-ra!

Here’s Aaron Bower’s report.

I suppose that’s us – a sorry state of affairs. And before you ask, I’ve not the slightest clue what we’re going to do tomorrow.

It’s impossible to overstate the brilliance of that performance. When he lost to Higgins in the 2011 final, he’d not have expected it to be eight years before he got back. That’s pressure, playing Higgins is pressure, playing Higgins again is pressure - and Trump delivered perhaps the finest final display of all-time. His blitz last night was like nothing we’ve ever seen before, but the way he closed it out this afternoon and tonight was just as impressive, a meticulous, flowing, calculating expression. Sensational.

The champagne supplied is decidedly mid-rank. If this was the cricket, DI Gower would be sneering at it as we speak.

“I didn’t know he was that good,” says Parrott. “I had no idea he was that good.” What praise that is.

He kisses it, lifts it gently, and gives it a little bounce. He’s the first man to win it in his 20s since Neil Robertson in 2010.

And here comes Judd to collect £500,000 and trophy! What a moment!

Higgins comes up to collect his silver medal and cheque for £200,000 - he’s earned every last penny of that. He waves to his family.

Haze notes that he’s now a member of the triple crown club, and that he’s the first man to cross the million-pounds prize money mark this season. “Drinks on Judd,” says Haze; “I might get the first round in,” he concedes.

He says he had to remodel his game, and played more safety than usual. He thanks his brother, who’s moved in with him, and thanks his family. He’s pretty composed, really - as though this is his path, his responsibility and his right. It is.

“I can’t put it into words, I worked so hard for this,” says Trump. He mentions all the family who support him then says he always plays well against Higgins and loses anyway. He didn’t feel relaxed coming into the session because he’s lost leads to him before. “I can’t put it into words, how well I played” - dearie me, imagine the joy of being able to say that. No, you’re crying.

“Just came up against an unstoppable machine,” Higgins continues, and Hazel leaves him be for this year.

He doesn’t seem too disappointed - he can’t be really, because his opponent hit a level beyond his reach. What can you do? Now, the major question: can Hazel entice him to cry?

“I was the lucky one, because I didn’t have to pay for a ticket,” says Higgins. “Awesome, just awesome ... first of many.”

Higgins 9-18 Trump - TRUMP IS THE CHAMP!

Trump is the champ! He pots red, pink, red pink, and it’s OVER! He misses a pink, Higgins shakes hands, and we have witnessed absolute greatness! Never will you see a final performance as wondrous, never will you see a first title won with such elan!

Higgins 9-17 Trump (1-50)

But an oversight leaves two reds near the top left which might be blocking each other ... naw. In goes the nearest one, and Trump’s on the cusp!

Higgins 9-17 Trump (1-43)

Higgins is not long for this competition. Trump is cruising on a cushion of air, so hot and so cold you can feel it through the screen.

Higgins 9-17 Trump (1-19)

Higgins is taking everything on now and a miss leaves a fine cut into the middle ... obviously Trump drains it. I’m now wondering how many of these he can win - you can never be sure, because looking back just two years, Selby looked good for a stretch and hasn’t got close since then. But Trump is more versatile, with a higher top level, and tangentially, do we reckon Ding’s missed the boat? I really hope not, but I really think so.

Higgins 9-17 Trump (1-1)

Juddard Trump, first of his name, misses a double and Higgins spiders in a red. But then he tries to force a brown along the baulk line and into the green pocket, misses, and Trump’s in with one ... but with no colour on, plays safe.

Higgins 9-17 Trump

Call the cops! Trump misses a red, and by a way. But he leaves nothing, so Higgins plays to the bottom cushion.

Higgins 9-17 Trump

“It’s turned into a one-man show,” says Davis. “He’s demolished one of the greatest players ever to pick up a cue ... that second session is the most violent I’ve ever seen.”

Higgins 9-17 Trump

Trump may as well walk around the table removing the balls. But he misses a cannon on the final red, so pounds in a green, tickles it off the cushion ... but gets no luck. He misses a double, but won’t care at all - he’s one frame away!

Higgins 9-16 Trump (0-68)

“This has been a performance of power, preposterous potting and no little panache,” says Alan McManus. There’s no snooker naughtier than that which leaves your opponent sat at the side, shaking his head at your infallibility. A black puts Trump 68 ahead with 67 remaining.

Higgins 9-16 Trump (0-40)

We are watching one of the greatest, most complete performances in snooker history - this really is that good, and we must savour its every second. This frame is nearly done, and without a scrap of difficulty.

Higgins 9-16 Trump (0-7)

Higgins plays an attacking safety, breaking the pack, and Trump cues like a dream to see away a loose one - but an infelicitous cannon on the red means it’s a very thin pink ... and it’s there!

Higgins 9-16 Trump

Juddance breaks off, and we’re away.

Out marches the Wiz. He waves to the crowd and smiles ruefully because he knows too, even though he doesn’t.

Just look at him. He knows. What a feeling that must be.

Rob Palmer is understated as ever as we reach the boyz/baize interface. Here comes the Ace in the Pack!

To remind you: Trump needs two more frames; Higgins needs nine.

I have two earworms, and because they’re pleasant ones with frankly astounding vocal performances, I’m going to share them.

Evening all! Sometime in the next two hours, Judd Trump will be crowned World Snooker champion, John Higgins will become the first man since Jimmy White to lose three straight finals – White actually managed a phenomenal five – and we’ll all bend the knee to the game’s next transcendent star. Or will he, or will he, or will we?

So that’s us for the now - join me again around 7pm BST for the staggering denouement.

Higgins 9-16 Trump

Higgins has played his arse off here, but there’s just nothing he can do - a great is asserting himself, and that’s all there is to it. Drink it in, friends, because joy of this ilk does not often bestow itself upon us.

Higgins 9-16 Trump

Trump misses a red to the middle - it won’t quite curl for him, and the players share some laughs. So that’s the session, then, shared at four frames each, and the standard - yes, I know it’s a cliche - was absolutely off the charts. “If you didn’t enjoy that, you don’t like snooker,” says Parrott.

Higgins 9-15 Trump (0-104)

Trump pots his tenth black and rips the white back to disturb some reds, then wallops home one of them. There’s a lot of work to do here, three reds clustered and one on the cushion, and he ends up almost straight above the black. He might cut it, or he might double it ... he’s cutting ... AND IT’S THERE! WHAT A POT THAT IS! The finest contact, and now he needs to smash in a red to the green pocket, disturb the little guy on the side cushion, and this isn’t just a 147 chance, but a chance for one of the all-time great 147s! Oh, and this is the 100th hundred of the tournament, a record.

Higgins 9-15 Trump (0-56)

Five reds, five blacks. There’s one red on the cushion, close to the baulk line, but otherwise, these will not be difficult to remove. More reds, more blacks.

Higgins 9-15 Trump (0-32)

This frame is gigantic – if Higgins gets to within five, you never know. Except he leaves a red on the edge of the cluster that goes to the green pocket - I say leaves, but that’s extremely harsh. It’s just that Trump is rrrrridiculous, and quickly racks up four red-blacks.

Higgins 9-15 Trump

This is a majestic run from Higgins - the balls were unhelpfully spread, but he worked his way through them and frees the final red from the cushion with a spectacular cannon. Higgins is rolling!

Higgins 8-15 Trump (28-11)

As I said, Higgins wins the safety exchange and sets about compiling a frame-winner - though there’s bare work still to do.

Higgins 8-15 Trump (9-11)

A safety exchange, and again, Trump looks to have the superior kopf and control. That is absolutely amazing to contemplate.

Higgins 8-15 Trump (9-3)

Higgins gets in first, but on 9 jabs at a black - there’s no opponent more exacting than SB Pressure. Trump eases to the table and starts building.

Higgins 8-15 Trump

Hendry is hilarious, rhapsodising Trump’s brilliance before wondering how many titles he’d already have, had he taken things seriously sooner.

Higgins 8-15 Trump

Higgins sinks a red to seal the frame, and we will have ourselves an evening session. He’ll need the next two to make it any more than a face-saver, but.

Higgins 7-15 Trump (67-16)

Trump immediately gets to work, but then misses a red to the middle - it looked like it was going in, but somehow slid wide. With two reds up by baulk, it’s hard to see Trump resolving this one.

Higgins 7-15 Trump (67-0)

Higgins is chasing his century of Crucible centuries, and in the process ensuring we have an evening session. He’ll be relieved about that one, I shouldn’t wonder. EXCEPT HE MISSES FRAME BALL, A RED FROM BELOW THE PINK SPOT INTO THE MIDDLE! Trump comes to the table 67 behind with 67 on the table...

Higgins 7-15 Trump (31-0)

Shonuff he’s soon chasing position ... and shonuff he immediately catches position, a pink into the green pocket getting him back on track. The absolute stanes on this lad.

Higgins 7-15 Trump (19-0)

A safety exchange starts frame 23, before Higgins gets in with red-blue. The balls are nicely spread, so he’ll be looking to finish in one visit - but the pressure of knowing that any slip and Trump clears up is a heavy burden.

Apologies: I forgot that in 1993, Hendry beat White 18-5, without need for a final session.

Higgins 7-15 Trump

A run of 126 ends when Trump misses the final black. We are privileged to be alive to see this - tell it to your children and your children’s children.

Higgins 7-14 Trump (0-108)

Trump knows that Higgins is the master of the comeback, and he’ll have known it harder when he lost the first two frames this afternoon. But it doesn’t matter, because he does not give an intimate relations - there’s his sixth ton of the final!

Higgins 7-14 Trump (0-66)

There’s not been the slightest hint of a wobble - Trump just knows. He’s cueing so cleanly and so straight, and rams home a blue, taking the white off three cushions with humiliating power to slide home frame-ball.

Higgins 7-14 Trump (0-37)

This is not fair. Trump raises it again, pushing home a delectable blue to the middle, and this is going to be another one for Juddworth.

Higgins 7-14 Trump (0-14)

If Trump wins the four frames remaining this afternoon, he will be our champion, and HAVE A LOOK! A red sent up the table to yellow pocket like it’s nothing. I can confirm that it is absolutely is not nothing.