Despite battling fatigue, Judd Trump won his 17th consecutive match with a 4-3 defeat of Noppon Saengkham at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open as he continued his quest to become the first player in a decade to win three consecutive ranking events.
Trump is through to the quarter-finals in Belfast and will face Stephen Maguire on Friday at 7pm. Having already won the BetVictor English Open and Wuhan Open this month, he is looking to become the fifth player in snooker history, and first since Ding Junhui in 2013, to win three ranking titles on the bounce.
After sharing the first two frames, Thailand’s Saengkham made a break of 85 to lead 2-1, before Trump levelled with a 124. World number 23 Saengkham regained the lead with a run of 109 and he had match-winning chances in a fragmented sixth frame. It came down to a long safety battle on the colours, resolved when Trump double the brown to a centre pocket and added the blue for 3-3.
Saengkham had one more chance but missed a red to a top corner on 6 early in the decider, and his opponent punished him with 92.
“It’s very tough off the back of a couple of long weeks, I don’t know how I’m still going,” said world number three Trump, who won this title in 2018, 2019 and 2020. “It’s so draining playing this many games. Every day I wake up hoping I’m not flat and I’m still excited. I go out there hoping the crowd will help and I’m trying to do it for my family who have always supported me. There is not a lot left in the tank but I am trying to see out the week and then have a break.
“This might be the only time I get the chance to win three in a row because it’s hard enough to win one, let along two and then be in another quarter-final.
“I had to dig in tonight and luckily in the end Noppon missed a couple of crucial balls and I got my chance in the end. When you’re in the winning habit it’s easier to make those breaks in the last frame.”
Jack Lisowski eased into his 27th ranking quarter-final, and ended Irish hopes, with a 4-1 win over Aaron Hill. World number 13 Lisowski, who has won all four matches so far this week by a 4-1 scoreline, rattled in runs of 116, 60, 61 and 83 to set up a match with Ricky Walden
“There was a good atmosphere tonight, it was great to play Aaron, he’s going to have a big future in the game,” said Lisowski. “The best of sevens are tricky because they can change so quickly so it’s good to be into the best of nines with an interval. Ricky Walden hits the ball so cleanly and I always enjoy playing him. Hopefully I can keep up my standard. The dream would be to win my first title against Judd in the final.”
Stephen Maguire earned his first ranking event quarter-final appearance since the 2022 World Championship by edging out Joe Perry 4-3. From 3-1 down, Perry battled back to 3-3 with a top run of 123, and he had a chance to snatch the decider from 40-0 down but missed the black to a top corner on 26. Maguire replied with 30 which proved enough.
David Gilbert, whose last ranking quarter-final came exactly a year ago, beat Rory McLeod 4-0 with a top break of 61. He’ll now meet BetVictor European Masters champion Barry Hawkins, who beat Robbie Williams 4-0.
Friday’s quarter-finals:
12pm
Jack Lisowski v Ricky Walden
Not before 2pm
Barry Hawkins v David Gilbert
Not before 7pm
Judd Trump v Stephen Maguire
Chris Wakelin v Yuan Sijun
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