Shanghai champ Judd Trump hoping history repeats in world number one race

Trump defeated outgoing champion Kyren Wilson, 11-6, in Sunday’s final at the Luwan Indoor Stadium in China to collect the prestigious invitational title for the second time in his career, and pocket a payday of £210,000.

The Englishman - who first wore the Shanghai Masters crown two years ago - became the fourth multiple-time champion in the event’s history. Overall, it was 36-year-old Trump’s 45th professional snooker title.

His first competitive outing on the World Snooker Tour since his last 16 exit at the World Championship to Hossein Vafaei at the end of April, Shanghai was a very pleasing way for Trump to begin his 22nd consecutive term on the sport’s top-flight.

After battling back to deny Barry Hawkins 6-4, Trump whitewashed John Higgins 6-0 in the quarter-finals before defeating newly-minted World Champion Wu Yize, 10-6, in the last four. Against Wilson, Trump faced an opponent he had a 5-1 losing record to in finals and someone he had never gotten the better of in a multi-session match before.

Having been runner-up there in 2012, 2015, and 2017, Trump finally went one step further in Shanghai when in 2024 he defeated Shaun Murphy, 11-5, in the final to add that accolade to his illustrious career CV.

The month after lifting that trophy, Trump went deep at the inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix elsewhere in China. He would lose 10-8 to then reigning World Champion Wilson in the title tie, but did enough to regain snooker’s world number one ranking - off Mark Allen - for the first time since November 2021.

Just a couple of weeks later on from Xi’an, Trump banked the £500,000 top prize on offer at the first Saudi Arabia Masters after memorably producing an all-time great counter clearance to pip Mark Williams on the final black in the deciding frame of the final.

The huge winner’s purse - at the time the same amount as what Wilson received at the Crucible earlier that year - strongly bolstered Trump’s position at the top of the global standings.

Towards the end of the same 2024 calendar year, Trump added to his Triple Crown title count when he ousted Hawkins, 10-8, in the final at the Barbican in York to land his second UK Championship crown.

Across that 2024/25 snooker season as a whole, Trump reached six finals, and a further four semi-finals, including last four finishes at the Masters and World Championship. That spell began with his maiden Shanghai success in July.

Two years on, and Trump will be hoping that his latest Shanghai Masters triumph will help spark a similar run.

‘The Ace in the Pack’ - who had issues with his cue and off the table - was once again a regular at the business end of tournaments throughout last season (2025/26), although he was ‘only’ able to convert five final appearances into one title win when he won a record-extending fourth German Masters trophy at the start of February.

Despite a relatively early elimination at the Crucible, Trump again ended the season as the world number one, although his position at the top of the global standings is in big jeopardy over these coming weeks.

Because of the way snooker’s world rankings system works - on a prize money-based two-year rolling list - all the prize money Trump earned in Xi’an and Saudi around two years ago will be removed from his total by the end of this month; all £576,000 of it.

With the Saudi Arabia Masters no longer on the circuit - the tournament was cancelled two years into a reported 10-year contract - Trump can not regain that £500,000 from one single event at a similar point in the calendar.

The next two tournaments on the Tour, which are both ranked, are the revived China Open (August 8-16) and the Wuhan Open (August 23-29). Even if Trump is to win both of these competitions - which would take an incredible effort - his aggregate earnings from both legs would be £425,000.

There are lots of possible permutations in terms of the race for world number one in August; several players are in the frame, although the most likely candidates for top spot are Zhao Xintong, Neil Robertson, and Wu Yize. It’s a tall task, but Trump could still end this month at the summit; he certainly has a strong basis to do well after his title victory in Shanghai.

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour in Shanghai after his latest glory there, Trump admitted that it will be difficult remaining as the world number one, but he is motivated by the challenge: “I think it was always going to be tricky with Saudi obviously no longer on the calendar, which I won two years ago. So the points are coming off” said 2019 World Champion Trump.

“I think it’s going to be an uphill struggle to keep that number one spot, but hopefully come mid-season or the end of the season, I can make sure I’m back there.

“I love being number one – it’s something that I’m very happy about. But if you are going to drop down the rankings a little bit, it’s always nice to win these big events like the Shanghai Masters.

“The last time I won in Shanghai, I had a great season. You need to be winning events like this to test yourself against the best.