‘Rusty’ Trump still coasts to whitewash win in York

In-form Judd Trump blew away first-round opponent David Lilley at the UK Championship in York but claimed he was far from his best.

Trump fired two centuries in a 6-0 win at the Barbican Centre and book-ended his win with breaks of 128 and 113 but said: “I didn’t think I played very well. I made a couple of important clearances but otherwise I felt rusty out there. The scoreline was flattering.”

Two more former winners, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui, also made short work of their opening games. Australian Robertson beat Welshman Kishan Hirani 6-2, producing five 50-plus breaks and a best of 110 in the fifth frame. Chinese star Ding coasted to a 6-1 victory over Poland’s Adam Stefanow.

All four of the top-16 players in action progressed safely as Kyren Wilson won 6-0 against Andy Lee with breaks of 94 and 101. Jack Lisowski’s 6-1 defeat of China’s Zhang Jiankang included two century breaks.

Former world champion Ken Doherty was also in fine form in his 6-2 win over China’s Yuan Sijun. A break of 130 drew the Irishman level at 2-2 and he rattled off the next four frames with scores of 50 and 82 in frames six and seven.

Dominic Dale will face Trump in round two after beating Gerard Greene 6-4. There were also wins for Jak Jones, Zhou Yuelong, Luo Honghao, Tian Pengfei, Martin O’donnell, Matthew Selt and Michael Holt.