Terrific Trump sweeps Lisowski aside to retain Gibraltar Open crown

Jonathan Davies in Gibraltar Open 7 March 2021

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Two-ton Trump surpasses Sunny to keep Gibraltar Open title defence on track

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Judd Trump successfully defended his Gibraltar Open crown after a comprehensive 4-0 whitewash of good friend Jack Lisowski in the final in Milton Keynes.

The world number one took just under an hour to claim his fifth ranking title of the season, hitting breaks of 106 and 94 along the way at the Marshall Arena.

It has been a lucrative week for Trump, who claimed the £150,000 bonus after topping the BetVictor European Series list, as well as the £50,000 top prize.

The Ace, who dropped just three frames in his seven matches, also took his career ranking event title tally to 22; moving him level with Mark Williams in joint-fifth place on the all-time list.

Having also contested the World Grand Prix and German Masters showpieces – which Trump won 10-7 and 9-2 respectively – this was the first time that the same two players were meeting in a third ranking event final in a single season.

And just like the previous two showdowns between them, Trump began on the front foot as he capitalised on a couple of Lisowski errors to draw first blood.

The Bristolian then doubled his lead after a cracking long red paved the way for a terrific 106 clearance to the pink.

Appearing in his sixth ranking event final after coming through deciding frames against Lu Ning and Stuart Carrington earlier in the day, Lisowski had a great chance to respond in the next frame.

However, after a neatly constructed break, the world number 10 came unstuck when he missed a straightforward red to the left centre.

Trump, who saw off Mark Allen and Matthew Selt to advance to his seventh ranking final of the campaign, ruthlessly pounced to move to the brink of victory, which he secured thanks to a crisp break of 94.

“I’ve played well the whole tournament, and I played solid in the final,” he told Eurosport.

“It’s not so much Jack losing to me; I’m playing pretty close to the best I can play every time.

“All you can keep doing is putting yourself in that position. It sounds hard and tough to take at the moment, but it’ll stand (Jack) in good stead because it will just spur him on to do better every time.

“He deserves to be in the top two or three in the world; he’s that good. When he does get that win, he’s going to be unstoppable.”

Lisowski, whose to run to the final secures his top-16 status for the World Championship, added: “I don’t know if it’s so much me in the final, but the standard he’s produced is so solid again.

“I’m in the top 16 and will definitely be at the Crucible; that was my goal this week.

“I keep losing to the best in the world, so it’s sad tonight but still a very positive week.”

WATCH GIBRALTAR OPEN SNOOKER STREAMED LIVE HERE (18+)