JUDD TRUMP had words of praise for young prospect Kyren Wilson after beating the 22-year-old 4-2 at the BetVictor Welsh Open on Saturday night to reach the second round.
Wilson may still only be ranked No90 in the world – but the Northamptonshire professional has already reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters this season.
World No4 Trump, 24, looked to be carrying his recent fine form shown in reaching the final of the German Masters in Berlin into the Newport tournament early on.
The left-hander opened up with a break of 100 before finding himself trailing 2-1 and but for a miss on the pink from Wilson in frame four it could have been even worse for Trump.
But Wilson pushed him to raising his level and Trump, who suffered a series of early exits and disappointing displays earlier in the campaign, squared things with a run of 61, and further breaks of 131 and 67 saw him into the last 64.
Trump said: “I was unlucky in the second frame to be honest, I didn’t miss a ball until then and potted a lot of good shots. He played well to go 2-1 ahead but then he missed a tricky ball and I didn’t really miss much after that.
“I played well the whole game and he played well – the standard was quite good.
“There is always a bit of luck with the 128 draw, I was looking over at some of the other tables and some of the players could hardly hold a cue so I was unlucky to get him I think. He will definitely get up the rankings this season.
“He’s probably the toughest player I could have got based on his current form, in that game he didn’t do a lot wrong. I played 90-95 per cent to the best of my ability, so played nearly to my best just to get through the first round.
“I am pleased for a Saturday night there was not a bad turnout here and I’m pleased to get through as it is so close to home.”
Elsewhere another Welsh hope Ryan Day, who was only narrowly edged out by Ding Junhui in the semi-finals in Germany, survived some scares to come past amateur Rhys Clark 4-2.
China’s Shanghai Masters finalist Xiao Guodong made heavy weather of beating Hammad Miah 4-3 and Scotland’s Jamie Burnett beat Thailand’s Ratchayothin Yotharuck 4-2.