The Clash of the Titans

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So we reach the semi-final stage of the International Championship and first up was a mouthwatering battle between two of the greats of the game, Judd Trump v Mark Selby.. Prior to this match, I was nervous for Judd as Mark Selby definitely is a player that no one wants to play in a hurry and you will certainly feel the strain once he or yourself has won. On the day though, Selby thought he could just turn up and reduce Trump into submission but for me this is a dangerous tactic as it can always backfire on you and today it did. Judd is playing at the moment is playing the best snooker in his career and  so anyone who wants to beat must play their A game plus another A for any chance of victory. Trump is clearly in the zone and is in no mood  to hang around in a match, potting when he can at the earliest stage and building a winning break.

If you could translate the text book on snooker onto the table, Judd is playing it with perfect timing and splitting the balls to score. Selby in the other hand, had done enough in his previous matches to win but when you come up against the Juddernaut you have to stop him in his tracks. The key to his success now compared to before that he believes in himself and is now hungry for success. Before he used to doubt himself and got bogged down in mental anguish when he was missing and the game wasn’t going his way. Today he was completely the opposite and could be described as irrepressible, waving a magic on the baize that reminds me of the glory days of Alex Higgins and  Jimmy White. Selby had to play damage limitation today and even had to scramble to get to and survive the interval. It wasn’t a classic day for him but was a fine performance by Trump and deserved the 9-4 winning score line.

Judd proved his worth in this match and  displayed blistering breaks of 116, 113, 108, 97 to name but a few and has already racked up ten centuries in this tournament already For me, he has always been the man to beat and now he has reached the final, is definitely the one that his opponent has to beat to get anywhere near that jug trophy. The Mark Allen v Shaun Murphy match will be interesting tomorrow as it could be a thriller or a steam roller event. Murphy will have to dig deep to beat Allen and must overcome the respect that he has for his friend and keep it backstage and off the baize if he had any chance. I do feel that Allen is the stronger of the two but as we know, Mark is susceptible to the odd miss and like poison can often get into his game if he doesn’t shut it off early enough. I still believe that this will be a Allen v Trump final come the final on Sunday.



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