Judd Trump breaks century record in Crucible quarter-final win over Luca Brecel

Judd Trump wrapped up his record-breaking charge into the World Snooker Championship semi-finals with a 13-8 win over fellow former champion Luca Brecel at the Crucible.

Trump reeled off five straight frames after starting the final session of a high-octane contest all-square, including two more centuries that took his total number of hundred breaks for the season to 104.

That saw him equal then surpass Neil Robertson’s 11-year-old record as 35-year-old Trump sealed his last-four clash against Welsh veteran Mark Williams in style.

Trump insisted: “I don’t really care about that record. I was just happy to make the breaks at the important times, no matter what they were. It was just about digging in and putting him under pressure.”

The 2019 champion had looked shell-shocked through an explosive afternoon session in which Brecel, showing glimpses of the form that swept him to the world title two years ago, completed a run of six straight frames as he blazed into a 7-5 lead.

Brecel, who had trailed 5-1 during Tuesday’s opening session, polished off three centuries of his own in a run that threatened to extend Trump’s long wait for a second world crown.

Crucially, Trump chiselled out the final frame of the afternoon session to go in at 8-8, and after a break of less than two hours, the world number one stepped up the pace when it mattered to complete victory with something to spare.

“It was obviously a tough second session,” added Trump. “I think Luca played brilliant snooker. I just had to grind it out and battle away and I was very happy to get out at 8-8.”

Trump relished his semi-final clash with Williams, who earlier held off a superb fightback from fellow former winner John Higgins to triumph in a last-frame decider and reach his eighth Crucible semi-final.

“Mark came through an absolute epic,” said Trump. “It was a great advert for snooker. Mark has been in quite a few classics at the Crucible, and it just shows the hunger and determination of the ‘Class of ’92’.”

Williams and Higgins, who have won seven world titles between them, were locked at 8-8 at the end of their second session before Williams put himself on the brink by taking all four frames on Wednesday’s resumption.

Four-time champion Higgins, though, dug in following the mid-session interval with breaks of 94, 114 and 67 to force a decider, which Williams took after his opponent missed a tense blue on the top cushion to seal a 13-12 victory.

“There was not one bit of nerves,” Williams said to the BBC afterwards. “I don’t really get it. I’ve only had nerves a handful of times in my career.

“I wasn’t thinking he (Higgins) would miss it. From 12-8 to 12-all I had not done much wrong and I was thinking, ‘what can I do?’

“It’s just a pleasure playing now. We got the standing ovation walking in and everyone was cheering. You have to enjoy it because you don’t know how many times you’ll be coming back here.”