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Zhao topples Trump to seal Players Series sweep at Tour Championship

Jonathan Davies in Tour Championship

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Judd Trump v Zhao Xintong live stream | Tour Championship Final preview

Zhao completed the Players Series sweep at the Tour Championship

Zhao Xintong completed the Players Series sweep on Sunday, after a commanding 10-3 victory over Judd Trump in the Tour Championship final.

The World champion, who also triumphed at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship, became the first player to win all three Players Series events during the same season – and third overall after Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson.

Zhao pocketed the top prize of ยฃ150,000 as he maintained his perfect record in ranking finals, having now won all six he has contested.

The Cyclone, who dropped just eight frames during a dominant week at the Manchester Central, also took his season’s earnings beyond the ยฃ1 million mark, while condemning Trump to his joint-heaviest defeat in a professional final.

Zhao was fresh from inflicting the joint-biggest defeat of John Higgins’ proud career, following a 10-1 rout of the four-time World champion in the semi-finals.

The reigning Crucible king opened the final with runs of 64 and 68, but Trump responded with a 61 on his way to making it 2-2 at the mid-session interval.

Zhao regained his advantage on the colours in frame five, before breaks of 91 and 98 guaranteed him the lead heading into the evening session at 5-2.

It looked like it would be 6-2 after Trump missed the penultimate red in frame eight. However, the Cyclone then let his opponent off the hook by missing the final red, allowing him to reduce his arrears to 5-3.

Trump was aiming to complete his own career sweep of the Players Series titles, and had enjoyed an upturn in fortunes at this year’s Tour Championship, where he had not won a match since 2020 prior to this week.

The Ace, who had defeated Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy and Robertson along the way, took control of frame nine with a run of 47, but Zhao fought back to pinch it on the pink, before contributions of 49, 35 and 63 helped him extend his lead to 8-3.

Trump suffered 10-3 final defeats against O’Sullivan and Allen at the 2017 Shanghai Masters and 2023 Champion of Champions respectively, and was in danger of enduring the same fate here.

The world number one appeared to be struggling with his tip, as his trademark break-building and heavy scoring ultimately deserted him.

After Zhao made it 9-3, this was evident as he missed a black off the spot on 30 when looking to keep the final alive in frame 13, and a run of 51 got the Chinese over the line.

“It’s disappointing that I couldn’t perform today for whatever reason,” Trump said. “I’d have been better off using the spider under the table! It was hard, but it’s my own fault for turning up with the tip.

“At the end of the day, Zhao’s had an amazing tournament. He’s been brilliant in the three [Players Series] events and won them all very convincingly. Over these past two months, he’s been the best player in the world. He’s amazing for the game.

“He’s a great player and going to be around for a very long time. It’s up to me and a few of the other players to start playing well against him. Otherwise, he’s going to end his career with about 100 tournament wins!”