Snooker world No. 1 Judd Trump admitted that he “didn’t really care” about his first English Open match despite defeating Liu Hongyu 4-3 in Brentwood via a deciding frame.
The defending champion was almost left with egg on his face having failed to make a 147 when leading 3-1, then going on to lose that frame and the next one, setting up a very nervous end to the tie.
Hongyu, ranked 65th in the world, had a slow start to the match which allowed the recent Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters champion to build up a strong lead. He was expected to extend that while wowing the crowd with the second maximum break of the tournament, after Fan Zhengyi.
But Trump left the black over the pocket as he hit his shot with nowhere near as much power as was necessary, giving Hongyu a golden chance to start what would have been a very unlikely upset.
And the 2019 world champion admitted he was not concentrating on the match at all, due to the lead he had built up already. “Sometimes when you’re out there… to be honest, I wasn’t that bothered to win or lose. Normally, I probably try and get the frame won there,” Trump told Eurosport.
“I was in the kind of mood where I didn’t really care what was happening out there. Until it went back to 3-3, then obviously you’re trying your best not to lose and my standard kind of went up again. The black was on (the) line and I was going from the 147 from the start, but ended up leaving it just a little bit short.”
Trump made an underwhelming start last time out in Riyadh also and was checking flights home on Skyscanner, before staging a remarkable comeback. This time he was the frontrunner, but will hope to regain his motivation against better quality opponents, describing the usually-strong Hongyu as “very poor”.
Trump had earlier missed out on a century while attempting a shot with his weaker right hand, once again his priorities away from solely winning the match, an issue that will need to be addressed before taking on either Matthew Selt or Rickey Walden.
“I struggled,” Trump added. “I expected a tough game from the start, and he wasn’t very good, to be honest, at the start; he was very poor.
“I kind of just lost my concentration a little bit and I think I tried to gee myself up going for that 147 and in the end, it didn’t happen. He raised the standards, and it probably helped me in the last frame.”