Jak Jones stuns Judd Trump in major World Championship shock at The Crucible in Sheffield

QUALIFIER Jak Jones produced one of the biggest shocks in World Championship history to end Judd Trump’s hopes of Crucible glory.

The world No 44 – playing in only his fourth ranking event quarter-final after first turning professional in 2010 – was a huge underdog in Sheffield, but beat the 2019 world champion 13-9.

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It guaranteed Welsh potter Jones, 30, at least £100,000 – the biggest pay day of his career – and a semi-final on Thursday against the winner of Ronnie O’Sullivan or Stuart Bingham.

But for Trump, who came into the tournament having won five ranking titles this season, it was a subdued performance littered with mistakes.

STUNNING: Jak Jones on his way to quarter-final victory against Judd Trump at the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PASTUNNING: Jak Jones on his way to quarter-final victory against Judd Trump at the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA
STUNNING: Jak Jones on his way to quarter-final victory against Judd Trump at the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA

Trump said: “I struggled. I had chances but I couldn’t get rhythm. Every time I came to the table, it felt like I had been away from it for ages and I wasn’t able to get into that flow.

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“Maybe I should have been more attacking in the first couple of sessions. Maybe I played it into his hands. I was slower than I would have liked.

“I had more than enough chances today to win so I only have myself to blame. It’s something I should know by now, how to control the speed of the game.”

Resuming overnight locked at 8-8, Trump had his chances but he missed key balls – the pink off its spot and a short-range yellow were standout errors – and was unable to make any noteworthy breaks.

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SHOCKER: Jak Jones celebrates victory against Judd Trump to reach the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PASHOCKER: Jak Jones celebrates victory against Judd Trump to reach the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA
SHOCKER: Jak Jones celebrates victory against Judd Trump to reach the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA

After he opened with a century and a 58 in the first two frames of the match, Trump made just one further 50-plus break in the entire contest and lost six of the last seven frames.

Jones’ closing clearance of 106 simply rubbed salt into the wounds.

“Every time is tough coming here,” Trump said. “It’s a gruelling schedule, playing last night and then again the following morning. It was tough, very tired, quite flat. But it's the same for both players and Jak dealt with it a lot better than I did.

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“I didn’t sleep very well last night and today I missed too many easy balls. I just need to get in and clear up every time, and I didn’t do that. If you are potting your balls it doesn’t matter how quick your opponent is playing.

“In my eyes (this season) has been very successful. It’s not easy to have a good run here, on paper I was the favourite to beat him and play Ronnie in the semi-finals.

“But to be honest, playing like that, he did me a favour because I would have lost 17-0 (in semi-finals).”

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Jones is aiming to become only the third-ever qualifier to win the World Championship at the Crucible after Terry Griffiths (1979) and Shaun Murphy (2005).

He said: “Judd struggled – from 4-4 he seemed to go into his shell and I picked up on that.

“He made a century in the first frame and that seemed to motivate me as I knew I would need to play well. Maybe it was pressure, but Judd didn't seem to play the way he usually does.”

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Jones must now try and convince his mum Debbie to watch him play live for the first time.

“She won’t even watch me on the TV,” said Jones. “At home now when I’m playing she’ll be doing the ironing or cleaning the house, that’s what she likes to do to keep herself occupied.

“She doesn’t like watching me, she pretends it’s not happening and waits for my dad to call her with the result.

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“A Crucible semi-final is obviously a different matter and maybe she will come up, but she won’t come into the arena.”

Fellow qualifier David Gilbert is also through to the semi-finals after he beat Stephen Maguire 13-8.