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Ronnie O’Sullivan surge stuns Judd Trump and seals third World Grand Prix title

Jonathan Davies in World Grand Prix

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O’Sullivan won the title last season, but will not compete this year

Ronnie O’Sullivan produced another inspired turnaround on the way to defeating Judd Trump 10-7 and claiming his third World Grand Prix title.

The Rocket landed his fourth silverware of a remarkable season at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Sunday – and third in the space of 50 days following his triumphs at the UK Championship and Masters.

Just like against Ali Carter in last weekend’s Masters showpiece, O’Sullivan trailed 6-3 before winning seven of the last eight frames to complete a wonderful comeback.

Landing the top prize of ยฃ100,000, the world number one becomes the joint-most successful player in the history of the tournament after matching Trump’s tally of three titles.

“I felt better as the week went on,” he told ITV. “I played some of my best snooker ever last night against Ding. It gave me some confidence coming into today because I knew I’d have to play well to at least do something well against Judd.

“I enjoyed the match. Judd blasted me off the table [to lead 4-0]. I was thinking it could an early night, like a 10-1 job. But I managed to nick a few frames this afternoon. [Trailing] 5-3 gave me a lot of optimism.

“I came out and tried to enjoy the battle; you have to battle against Judd because he’s a warrior. For me, he’s the favourite for the World Championship this year; he’s strong.”

The 48-year-old added: “When I play snooker, I feel young in my head and knock about 20 years off. As long as I’m still feeling young when I’m at the table, I don’t think age is really an issue.

“I’ve got a lot of experience, won a lot of tournaments, been around a while and I’ve learned a lot about the game. I’m probably a better all-round player than I’ve ever been.

“I’ve got three months now to try and get some consistency in my game. I think you need consistency going into Sheffield. You don’t have to play great to win it; you’ve just got to be steady.”

Nine years after contesting the first ever World Grand Prix showpiece, which Trump won 10-7, the world’s top two players did battle once more for the 14th time in a final.

Three-time champion Trump had prevailed in eight of the previous 13 and he took early control, a swift break of 74 wrapping up the opening frame inside six minutes before dominating the second with runs of 34, 28 and 40 along the way.

After both players saw chances go begging in the third frame, the Ace cleared from the penultimate red to extend his lead before a contribution of 69 put him 4-0 to the good at the mid-session interval.

The previous evening, O’Sullivan produced a scintillating display against good friend Ding Junhui, with breaks of 135, 128, 128, 124, 90 and 79 on the way to a comprehensive 6-1 rout.

The Rocket stopped the rot with runs of 63, 60 and 54 as he won three of the next four frames to only trail by two heading into the evening session – just like he had against Carter at Alexandra Palace seven days earlier.

O’Sullivan threatened to snatch the ninth frame after Trump was in first with 66. However, he missed the brown, which his opponent knocked in for 6-3.

Nevertheless, the seven-time World champion responded with breaks of 74, 58 and 54 to cut the gap to 6-5.

He took early control of frame 12 with a run of 30, which Trump countered with 57, but a loose safety shot on the final red from the Ace enabled O’Sullivan to clear and level the match on the black.

The world number one then took the lead for the first time with runs of 52 and 35. His opponent looked set to level from 51-2 down in frame 14, but missed the final black along the top rail and a relieved O’Sullivan established breathing space at 8-6.

Trump looked to clear again in the following frame, but broke down once more when he rattled the brown in the jaws of the top-right corner, allowing the Rocket to move to the brink of victory.

The Ace stopped the rot with a neat 73 clearance, and looked to clear in frame 17 after O’Sullivan had broken down on 52.

However, he ran out of position on the yellow and a loose safety shot was pounced on by the Rocket, who cleared to secure his 41st ranking title.

“I didn’t really start well,” Trump said. “We both struggled, the standard wasn’t very good. But Ronnie cleaned up when he needed to. There were a couple of important frames, important breaks he made and some really good clearances.

“His safety was a lot better tonight; he was getting in first and scoring a bit heavier. His long potting was really good. Overall, it was a well-deserved win for him.

“There was a lot of ups and downs in that second session. The black, there was a bit of a kick to go seven-all. Then obviously, I rattled the brown.

“It’s obviously never nice losing, but it was nice to have another final against Ronnie. I always enjoying playing him. It’s always a good game. Hopefully, Ronnie carries on playing like that and we can meet in a lot more finals this season.”