Title holder Judd Trump survives opening match scare at 2024 English Open Snooker

Getty Images/Alex Pantling
World number one and defending English Open champion Judd Trump nearly paid the price for attempting a maximum 147 break before eventually ousting Liu Hongyu 4-3 to reach the last 32 in Brentwood.

Trump has enjoyed a blistering start to the new season, reaching the final of all three events he entered, winning both the Shanghai Masters invitational and big-money Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh.

The 35-year-old Englishman is now 16 out of 17 in terms of match victories for the 2024/25 campaign, but he survived a scare against the world number 65, Liu.

Despite not being at his best, breaks of 98 and 51 helped Trump to a 3-1 lead. Needing one more push to cross the finish line, Trump appeared to be coasting to it in frame five, but got lured into going for a maximum break having started his effort on blacks.

Opting to take on a tougher positional shot to remain on the black - instead of an easier route to secure the victory - Trump missed his latest black whilst on a run of 65, a total short of leaving his opponent requiring penalty points.

Liu - a surprise semi-finalist here last year during his rookie season as a professional - stepped up and fully punished with a brilliant counter clearance of 68. He then crafted a 76 in frame six as he forced the contest al the way.

The deciding was a scrappy one to begin with, but once again, Trump showed his mental strength and why he is such a winning machine these days as a contribution of 57 put him in control before he applied the finishing touches later on.

Elsewhere in Essex during the morning and afternoon sessions, Zhang Anda - the player Trump defeated in last year’s final here - pipped Mark Davis, 4-3. The world number 12 Zhang compiled five half-century breaks during the tie, including a 63 in the deciding frame.

Ali Carter was the first player through to the last 32 as he defeated Ian Burns, 4-0. Carter - winner of the Championship League at the start of this season - posted breaks of 57 and 78.

David Gilbert continued his fine run of results as he ousted Michael Holt, 4-3. An effort of 101 put Holt 3-2 up, but Gilbert secured with the final two frames (breaks of 57 and 89) for a narrow win.

The remaining few round two matches were completed with Ricky Walden, Bulcsu Revesz, Xiao Guodong and Dominic Dale all booking berths in the round of 64.

Mark Selby resists comeback from Aaron Hill

The opening televised match of this year’s tournament witnessed two-time English Open Champion Mark Selby record a morale-boosting victory as he eventually saw off Aaron Hill 4-2 to reach round four.

The two cueists met a few weeks ago in China at the Xi’an Grand Prix where Selby won 5-0 and Hill only scored a total of 20 points. It was looking like a similar story at the Brentwood Centre as Selby registered runs of 69 and 115 in going 2-0 up, relinquishing only two points in the process. Hill was more involved in frame three, but Selby extended his lead to 3-0.

However, after being on the edge of suffering another whitewash defeat to his opponent, Ireland’s number one Hill cleared the final five colours in frame four, doubling the black to get on the board. The 22-year-old then got right back into contention as he showed his class with a 131 to close the gap to one.

The world number 63 had an opportunity early in frame six as he threatened a decider, but missed a thin cut on the blue. Selby composed himself and later deposited the frame to reach his target.

Having lost his opening match in both the Wuhan Open and Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in recent weeks, the prize money is very welcome for Selby who has lots to defend on his ranking total this season.

Ryan Day, Noppon Saengkham and Stuart Bingham - all top 32 seeds who started their title tilts today - were eliminated as they lost to lower ranked opposition.

Day went out to maximum man Fan Zhengyi 4-1, Saengkham was whitewashed by local cueist Zak Surety 4-0, and Bingham - who is also from these parts - was pipped by Wu Yize, 4-3.

For full details on the 2024 English Open including the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.

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