Wells pulls off a shock win against World No.5 Trump
WELSH Amateur Daniel Wells pulled off a shock victory over world number five Judd Trump to reach the last 16 of the Betvictor Welsh Open in Llandudno.
Wells - who dropped out of the professional ranks in 2021 and went to work for his mum’s cleaning business - recovered from 2-0 down against Masters champion Trump to win the next four frames which included a break of 101.
“To beat a top player on TV is a massive stepping stone for me,” Wells said on the World Snooker Tour website.
“When I was off the tour and cleaning toilets, no one was paying my bills. It was a shock to me, I realised I have to be more gritty and not give other players too much respect.
“They are all human and if you put anyone under enough pressure they will crack. Hopefully I can go further, I am not finished in this tournament yet.”
Neath-based Wells was due at the table to play again in Thursday’s late session at Venue Cymru, where he faced Shaun Murphy who chalked up two centuries in his 4-2 success over Anthony McGill.
Elsewhere in the afternoon session, Hossein Vafaei edged out Barry Hawkins in a final-frame decider while Jack Lisowski advanced to the last 16 with a 4-2 win over David Lilley.
Belgian Luca Brecel beat Cao Yupeng 4-1, while Northern Irishman Mark Allen made four half-century breaks as he saw off Andy Hicks by the same scoreline.
Ironically Wells’ victory came after seven-time World champion Ronnie O’Sullivan had dismissed his chances of making an impact again in thepro ranks.
O’Sullivan advised a Wells to remain a ‘part-time player’ with a pretty brutal assessment, saying: “He’s never going to be a tournament winner, he’s just not good enough.”
“I think for him he should just stay as a part-time player, irrelevant of how well he does, just stay part time snooker,” O’Sullivan said on Eurosport.
“It took the pressure off him. “Next year if he gets a main tour card and invests totally in snooker I bet he goes back to getting beaten and not enjoying it again.
“He’s tried that and he ain’t that level, never will be,’ said the world number one.
“At best he’ll maybe make a few semi-finals now and again, but it’s hard to invest everything into that when he can still do that as a parttime player.
“He’s still capable of getting to the semis of this [Welsh Open] but he’s never going to be a tournament winner, he’s just not good enough.”