Trump rally frustrates O'Sullivan bid for seventh snooker world title
Sports
Judd Trump has reduced O'Sullivan's lead in the best of 35-frame contest to 14-11.
SHEFFIELD (AFP) - Ronnie O Sullivan saw his quest for a historic seventh world snooker title halted by a Judd Trump fightback on Monday (May 2).
Trump, the 2019 world champion, won six out of eight frames in the day s opening session of the World Championship final to reduce O Sullivan s lead in the best of 35-frame contest to 14-11.
O Sullivan resumed seven frames in front at 12-5 up, with Trump in danger of suffering the embarrassment of losing the showpiece clash at Sheffield s Crucible Theatre with a session to spare.
But the match will now be played to a finish from 1800 GMT Monday after O Sullivan lost his first session of this year s tournament.
O Sullivan, bidding to equal Stephen Hendry s modern-day record of seven world titles, had been in commanding form on Sunday against an error-prone Trump.
But Trump appeared to be a rejuvenated player as he won Monday s first three frames to reduce his fellow Englishman s lead to 12-8.
The opening frame of the day saw Trump have the better of a safety exchange against O Sullivan, at 46, the oldest World Championship finalist since Ray Reardon in 1982.
And the 32-year-old left-hander then took the frame with a break of 107 -- his first century of the match.
Trump won the next two frames as well, with O Sullivan now making mistakes.
It looked as if he would win a fourth frame in a row only for a break of 45 to end when Trump missed an ambitious plant to the middle.
O Sullivan then cleared to the pink to lead 13-8 at the mid-session interval.
Trump, however, won the next two frames before a missed black off its spot allowed O Sullivan to compile a break of 51 that left him 14-10 ahead.
But Trump s improved play also led to a change of luck, a fluked pot in the final frame of the session helping him on his way to a break of 105 as he narrowed the gap to three frames.
Sunday s play had been notable for a row between O Sullivan and referee Olivier Marteel -- an unusual flare-up in the normally sedate world of snooker.
Marteel accused O Sullivan of making an obscene gesture after failing to get out of a snooker in the eighth frame.
That led O Sullivan to challenge Marteel by telling the Belgian official he "saw nothing".
O Sullivan, who had been 5-1 up, lost the next two frames and at the end of the session left the arena without offering the traditional handshake to Marteel.
The World Snooker Tour subsequently issued a statement that said: "Ronnie O Sullivan received a formal warning from the referee following a gesture he made in the eighth frame."
Prior to the snooker authorities statement, O Sullivan told Eurosport: "I just think he (Marteel) seems to be looking for trouble."
O Sullivan quelled any lingering controversy by offering a fist bump to Marteel at the start of Sunday s evening session.
He then dominating proceedings against a struggling Trump, who had said before the match it had always been a "dream" to play boyhood hero O Sullivan in a world final.