Judd Trump overcomes Welshman Dominic Dale (From South Wales Argus)

Judd Trump overcomes Welshman Dominic Dale

5:52pm Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Sport By Andrew Penman

WORLD number two Judd Trump escaped to victory against home favourite Dominic Dale in the Bet Victor Welsh Open snooker tournament at the Newport Centre.

Veteran Welshman Dale led 3-1 after a 114 break in the fourth frame and looked to be well on the way to causing another shock after John Higgins and Shaun Murphy both crashed out yesterday.

But Dale, known as the Spaceman, came crashing down to earth as he missed several chances to seal the win and 23-year-old Trump clawed his way into the second round with three successive frames to prevail 4-3.

“I’m not quite sure where it went wrong,” said Dale. “I was making positional errors more than anything.

“I had the chance to put him to bed. It was just one bad positional shot, otherwise I think I would have won that game 4-2.

“But Judd played a lot better in the last few frames,” added the 41-year-old.

“His back was against the wall and he’s always a dangerous player.”

Trump admitted that he had got out of jail before suggesting that his reputation as the new Ronnie O’Sullivan has led his rivals to try to frustrate him with slow play.

“It was a tough game, Dominic’s safety was very good and it was just towards the end that he started to miss a few and I started to punish him more,” he said.

“A lot of people are changing their game to try to beat me and if you’re not playing your natural game it catches up with you in the end.

“Dominic usually likes to go for his shots but he took no chances today and it all went right for him until the end.

“Everyone is hoping I get frustrated and lash out but I think I’m getting more patient. A few years ago I probably would have panicked a bit and lost the game but I managed to battle back for the win.”

Trump’s win set up a meeting with Andrew Higginson, who overcame Michael Wasley 4-2 yesterday.

Defending champion Ding Junhai breezed past Mark King 4-0 to set up a clash with Mark Allen.

“I’m pleased with the outcome,” said the Chinese star.

“I had some good long shots and played well.

“It’s nice to come back here. I practiced a lot before the tournament because I want to play well when I’m defending my title. There is some pressure on me, but not too much.”

Also yesterday, Tom Ford beat Ricky Walden 4-1 and Stuart Bingham whitewashed Craig Steadman 4-0.