The European Masters is the first major tournament of the 2016-2017 snooker circuit and it was been won by the popular Judd Trump. Trump beat fellow English player and five times world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is a closely fought and high quality final. The tournament was played at the Circul Globus, in Bucharest, Romania.
To reach the final Trump defeated two-times world champion Mark Selby 6-2, a victory that included a superb total clearance of 135. Even more devastating was O’Sullivan, who beat Australia’s Neil Robertson 6-0. In this match O’Sullivan had breaks of 118, 96, 92, 79 and 63. The match took just 75 minutes to complete.
In the early stages of the match it was O’Sullivan who made headway. After taking the opening frame on the black, O’Sullivan moved into a 3-1 lead, aided by breaks of 53 and 62. Coming out from the mid-session interval, Trump showed that he was not going to let the match slip away from him, compiling an impressive (and very quick) break of 120. Although O’Sullivan took the next, Trump hit back with a break of 82 and what should have been a second century, with the break stalling after Trump lost position. O’Sullivan, looking sharp during the first session, closed out the afternoon with a 5-3 advantage through making his fourth break over 50.
In the evening session Trump started strongly, powering through the first three frames, a run that included a break of 105. Having seen his 5-3 advantage collapse into 5-6 in arrears, O’Sullivan responded positively and won the next two frames with large breaks, of 93 and 72, to move 7-6 up. O’Sullivan won a third, a more scrappy affair, to stand 8-6 and within one frame of the match.
Trump, however, reeled off three impressive frames to win the title, winning the decider 8-6, after he had leveled the match with his third century break (a run of 109.) On winning the tournament, Trump wins the top prize of 75,000 euros ($85,000.) This is It is the sixth ranking title of 27-year-old Trump’s career
The frame scores were (Trump first):
First session:
51-58, 74-0, 35-62 (53), 45-69 (62), 120-0 (120), 20-100 (59), 82-0 (82), 0-100 (55)
Second session:
83-4, 105-21 (105), 67-1 (67), 34-93 (93), 7-72 (72), 42-75, 113-5 (109), 82-6
