World Snooker Championship 2024: Judd Trump coasts into last eight

Judd Trump is through to his tenth Crucible quarter-final after a completing a 13-7 round two victory over Tom Ford on Saturday morning at the 2024 World Snooker Championship.

Second favourite for this year’s world crown, 2019 champion Trump has been comfortable during his opening two assignments in Sheffield, and now awaits either Jak Jones or Si Jiahui in the last eight on Tuesday.

Trump took control of his tie against number 14 seed Ford when claiming the final four frames of the first session for a 6-2 lead, aided by breaks of 67, 52 and 69.

Returning on Friday for their second chapter, Trump hit his first century of the tournament (107) before further runs of 67, 59 and 50 helped him extend his advantage at 11-4, although Ford - playing in this round for the first time in his career - gave himself a glimmer of a hope by securing frame 16.

In their concluding session, though, Trump - despite being a bit scruffy at times - crafted breaks of 107 and 84 to go through without the inconvenience of a mid-session interval.

Whilst the world number two has not been at his high-scoring best in the competition so far, he has show great matchplay acumen to get the job done with frames to spare.

Speaking to BBC Sport after his victory, Trump talked about his baize maturity: “Yeah, I think it’s something I’ve been doing a lot this season just managing to get over the line in anyway possible really, so I’m a lot better at missing balls and not getting down on myself.

“It’s a good mindset to have when you can get to that point where you don’t really care, you feel like next time you come to the table that last bad shot or something, you’re in a good mindset.”

When asked about his own greatness within the history of the sport and if he needs to win the world championship more than once, Trump explained: “I think whatever I do someone will move the goalposts and that’s the truth I think of it. If I get to five then it’s not as good as eight or nine or ten.

I think for me, maybe I’ve gone about it in a different mindset and maybe not put so much emphasis on one tournament and just try to win absolutely everything and maybe that has a detrimental effect when it comes to the world championship.

“I love winning. I’d rather win five or six times a year than once a year here.”