Dott sends Trump crashing out with a Judd
JUDD Trump became the latest big-name casualty at this year’s Betway UK Championship after he was dumped out at the third-round stage by veteran Graeme Dott.
Former world champion Dott, now down at 30 in the world rankings, reeled off six consecutive frames to win 6-2 and set up a fourth-round meeting with fellow Scot Stephen Maguire.
With Trump, reigning champion Mark Selby and Ding Junhui all crashing out in the early rounds, Ronnie O’Sullivan is the top-ranked player remaining.
Dott kept his nerve after a blistering start by Trump, in which he made breaks of 93 and 78 to win the two first frames and look set for an easy session.
Dott told worldsnooker. com: “You’ve got to try and attack Judd and that is what I did at every chance. I just felt so comfortable out there, it’s nice to be back playing on TV.
“I get asked the same questions like ‘are you still playing snooker?’ by people like the delivery men and I say ‘yeah I’m still playing, still trying.’ So it’s nice to show people that I can actually play the game.”
Maguire edged a 6-5 victory over 2015 finalist Liang Wenbo, while Ryan Day also held his nerve to win an all-Welsh battle with Mark Williams by the same score.
Marco Fu was another surprise casualty as he went down 6-4 to China’s Lyu Haotian.
John Higgins, a three-time winner of this event, had to work hard to edge out China’s Cao Yupeng 6-4, making just one 50-plus break.
Akani Songsermsawad defeated Michael Holt by the same score, while Hossein Vafaei claimed a 6-5 victory against Anthony McGill.
Catriona Matthew has ploughed a lone furrow for Scottish golfers on the LPGA Tour for a while now but Aberdeen’s Gemma Dryburgh is relishing the prospect of joining her decorated compatriot on the lucrative US circuit next season.
The 24-year-old Aberdonian successfully came through the qualifying school final at the weekend and was understandably “ecstatic” to have earned a card for the biggest stage in the women’s game.