Drinks on Trump as he completes Crucible fightback

Judd Trump during his match with Liang Wembo. (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

The 26-year-old was in danger of becoming the fourth player from the top-five seeds to fall at the first hurdle in Sheffield when he trailed China’s Liang Wenbo 7-3.

Trump even went on Twitter saying: “Drinks on me later if I get out of jail here”.

A couple of hours later he was left counting the cost of his generous offer, as the former world No 1 reeled off seven of the next eight frames to transform the Crucible contest to win 10-8 and secure a second-round meeting with Ding Junhui.

Trump promised to put £200 behind the bar at the nearby The Graduate bar and tweeted: “Free drinks on me @GradSheffield from 7 just say my name…. Enjoy”

It prompted a cheeky response from world No 7 Mark Allen, who quipped: “I’ll send you the bill after the tournament”.

Trailing 6-3 overnight, the Bristol potter lost the first frame yesterday and his money seemed safe at 7-3 as Liang looked set to complete a notable double after also knocking Trump out of the UK Championship in York.

But he pulled a couple of frames back before a century break of 106 in frame 13 seemed to kickstart his revival.

“I took the balls really well, felt very confident, very relaxed under pressure,” said Trump, who reached the Crucible final in 2011, but is still hunting his first world title. “It seemed like when I had my back against the wall that’s when I thrived.

“I played some real good snooker, just solid snooker. I wasn’t forcing it really. I took a bit of heart from when I was losing big to Shaun Murphy a few years ago and came back to win that.

“I’m so pleased to get through. I can’t wait for the next game now.”

The first round in Sheffield has seen some high-profile casualties with world champion Stuart Bingham going home on the first day. He was swiftly followed by fellow top five seeds, and former world champions, in Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson.

Apart from Trump, Mark Selby is the only other top-five seed remaining. The world No 1 from Leicester begins his second-round match this morning against qualifier Sam Baird.

Hong Kong’s Marco Fu leads Scotland’s Anthony McGill 5-3 in their best-of-25-frame second-round match, which concludes tonight.