KING REIGNS OVER TRUMP

JUDD TRUMP saw his English Open title defence left in ruins by Mark King.

World No.1 Trump crashed out 5-3 in the quarter-finals to the 47-year-old veteran in Milton Keynes.

Last year’s winner Trump (above) led 3-2 at one stage, helped by a huge fluke on the final red in frame three after looking set to go 3-0 down.

And a similar massive slice of fortune helped Romford’s world No.54 King reach his first semi-final for three years.

Trump said: “That is two exits at this stage so far this season and that is disappointing. You get to the quarter-final and you want to kick on.”

King said: “Judd was not at his best today, and when he isn’t firing on all cylinders you have to capitalise and take your chances, and I did that.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan showed Trump how it is done later on – joining King in the semi-finals with a 5-1 win over Belgium’s Luca Brecel.

The Rocket, looking to extend his own record by winning a 38th ranking title, rattled in breaks of 54, 85, 56, 69 and a closing 90.

Six-time world champion O’Sullivan, 45, (below) lost all five finals he reached last season. But he now stands just one win away from getting to a first showpiece of the current campaign.

He said: “I am hitting the balls pretty well despite a tip that I am not happy with. Confidence-wise I am hitting it so true, I can feel it and hear it.

“But the tip hasn’t come off so I’ll just have to shape the tip and make it see out the tournament. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. “I haven’t got the power, I can’t get the reds open. If I am playing muppets it doesn’t matter, but against the good guys it can change things.”