Terrific Trump soars past Murphy into Players Championship semis

Jonathan Davies in Players Championship 20 March 2025

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Trump breezed through to the semi-finals in Telford

Judd Trump sprinted through to the Players Championship semi-finals on Thursday following a 6-0 whitewash of Shaun Murphy in Telford.

The world number one hit a top break of 101, and a further five contributions over 50 to complete a demolition job of the Magician is just under an hour-and-a-half at the Telford International Centre.

Trump also extended his winning streak over Murphy to seven matches, as he outscored his opponent by 524 points to 40 during a dominant display.

After controlling the opening frame, breaks of 77 and 101 quickly put the Ace 3-0 to the good.

Masters champion Murphy had an opportunity to respond in frame four, but was unfortunate to knock in a red when splitting the pack from the blue.

Trump pounced with 65 before returning from the mid-session interval with runs of 48 and 66 to move to the brink of victory, which he swiftly secured with a further contribution of 55 along the way.

“Shaun has been a different animal this season, so when you beat him, you take more credit than maybe you used to,” he told WST. “He is an amazing player, and to beat anyone 6-0 at this level is incredibly hard.

“He didn’t do a lot wrong. The first frame was incredibly important. He missed a couple of balls in that and got punished. I was full of confidence, he was struggling a little bit and everything was going in for me.

“You just want to carry on when you are playing like that. You are in the zone. I felt like I was playing slow and taking my time, but when I came off the table, my shot time was quite quick.

“I’ve been consistent all season. I’ve put myself in position in most tournaments I’ve played in. It is nice to know that form is still there coming into the final straight. I know my game is good enough to win any tournament, but it is good to back that up for a whole season.”

Earlier in the day, World Grand Prix champion Neil Robertson extended his winning streak to seven matches with a 6-3 victory over Mark Selby.

The Jester, who had lost eight of the nine previous meetings, had the first decent opportunity of the match to fashion a 50-18 lead in the opening frame, but Robertson recovered to take it on the blue.

Selby responded with a magnificent 139 total clearance, but runs of 58 and 72 saw the Australian win the next three frames for a 4-1 lead.

The four-time World champion stopped the rot with 88, only for Robertson to win two of the next three frames to book a last-four date with reigning Crucible king Kyren Wilson.

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