UK Snooker Championship: Trump heavily armed for semi-final (From York Press)

UK Snooker Championship: Judd Trump heavily armed for semi-final

9:40am Friday 9th December 2011 in Snooker By Steve Carroll, Sports reporter

IF this was Judd Trump when not at his best, heaven help Neil Robertson in today’s williamhill.com UK Championship semi-final.

Trump tweeted during the mid-session interval of his quarter-final with Stephen Maguire that he felt like he was using “someone else’s arm” and hadn’t got going.

That was despite being 3-1 in front.

Straight after the break, the Bristol youngster hit consecutive centuries – both 106 – as Maguire yielded 6-3 despite not doing too much wrong.

Trump was a whirlwind of potting, almost sprinting around the table as the balls fell under his spell.

Nothing is out of bounds when he is in this mood, but it is almost a surprise when he misses – such is his ability to pot from anywhere on the table.

And on the occasions he failed to find the target, fortune favoured him, Maguire cutting a frustrated figure as luck ran against him.

But Trump is a hard man to please. “I think I’m still a long way off (top form),” he said.

“There’s a lot I need to work on, especially my safety. Maybe I’ll stop practising my potting and keep an eye on my safety because the frames I am losing I am more or less giving them away. It’s not nice giving everyone a start.”

He added: “I have still got a lot of improving to do. It hurts when you gift away frames. I don’t think I have won a first frame yet and I have had chances.

“Normally, if I can get into a good lead I can take a lot of confidence from it and get on a run.

“Hopefully I can start in the next round and get 1-0 up.”

When he gets among the balls, however, he is almost impossible to stop.

Maguire actually won the first frame, but Trump replied with 72, 62 and 43 to snatch the next three.

Having not enjoyed a century in the tournament, he then smacked those consecutive hundreds on the resumption, to move two clear.

Maguire managed to bring some respectability to the scoreline, an 80 break in the eighth frame reducing the gap to 5-3 and, momentarily, giving him some hope. But a sparkling 120, Trump’s third century in five frames, put him over the finish line in fantastic style.

Maguire said: “He seemed to get in first every frame and had the rub here and there.

“He was lashing at the start of frames and could have easily have let me in. Maybe I could have then scored 30 or 40 but he always seemed to snooker me or leave it awkward.

“Then he would pot his second long ball. You can tell he’s got things going for him.

“He’s full of confidence, the way he’s walking round the table and the shots that he is playing.

“You have to ride the wave when it’s there.”