JUDD Trump has won the 2011 Williamhill.com UK Championship after beating Mark Allen 10-8 in the final at the Barbican Centre, York.
Trump, who captured the public’s imagination with his exciting brand of snooker at this year’s World Championship, recovered from 3-1 down to lead 5-3 at the end of the afternoon session, and he began the evening’s play where he left off with a break of 109 to extend his advantage to 6-3.
Allen’s break of 40 in the next ended when he narrowly missed a red to the yellow pocket, and Trump judged the frame ball final red superbly en route to a break of 78.
The 22-year-old made a break of 74 in frame 11, but despite Allen getting one of the two snookers required, a long red from Trump extended his lead to 8-4, giving him his seventh frame in succession.
Allen, who caused controversy earlier this week with his strongly-worded criticisms of Barry Hearn’s changes to snooker, began his fightback in the final frame before the mid-session interval with a 139, and when play resumed he made a 129 to reduce his deficit to 8-5.
Trump had a run of 76 in frame 14 to leave him needing just one more for victory, but a missed red into the middle early in the next saw Allen hit back with a 125, but this did little to disguise the fact that the 25-year-old from Antrim needed to win all of the remaining four frames if he was to win his first ranking title.
Allen looked set for a big break early in frame 16 but broke down on 25 when the cue ball rolled tight against the blue. Trump fluked a red from a cannon into the bunch, and looked set to turn it into a title-winning break until a lapse of concentration saw him miss an easy red on 55. Allen responded with 27 before missing a double, but Trump left the last red over the middle pocket, which his opponent potted to make it 9-7.
A cheeky double from Trump at the start of the next saw him build a break of 32, but he missed a long red by some distance, allowing Allen back in to make a 95 to take make it 9-8, making the previously impossible comeback seem like a very real possibility.
Allen went for a long red early in the next frame, but he narrowly missed and it rolled up the length of the table and hung invitingly over the green pocket. Trump took full advantage and a break of 91 secured him the biggest ranking title of his career.
Following his victory, Trump said: “To win it the way I did was a brilliant achievement, because Mark pushed me the whole way.
“To be honest, I think it’s the best anyone has ever played against me.
“With more tournaments and more table time, I’m getting more and more confident.”
Judd Trump (Eng) 10-8 Mark Allen (NI)
92-4 (70) 23-58 (56) 0-149 (141), 48-69, 86-49 (52) 62-30 (62), 75-33 (75) 73-31 (61), 109-7 (109), 78-46 (78), 82-14 (74), 0-139 (139) 0-133 (133), 76-5 (76), 0-125 (125), 35-**, 32-95 (95) 91-0 (91)