Action unfolds at the World Snooker Championship, with Zhao Xintong leading Ding Junhui and Judd Trump ahead of Hossein Vafaei.
Zhao Xintong Gains Ground on Ding Junhui
Zhao Xintong is displaying stylish snooker. He now has a three-frame advantage over Ding Junhui after securing the 13th frame with a break of 87. Ding is going to have to rally pretty soon or this match could be over in a flash.
Ding Junhui responded perfectly, disrupting the pack and milking the black en route to a break of 69. He missed a red which would have left Zhao Xintong needing snookers, and a safety exchange followed. However, Ding managed to graft his way to 84 points, leading Zhao to concede the frame.
Ding wins the frame to close the gap. That is exactly what was needed from Ding Junhui because the match was getting away from him. He could have put the frame away earlier but he got over the line.
Zhao Xintong establishes a two-frame lead heading into the mid-session interval. It’s a very dangerous session coming up for Ding Junhui because Zhao Xintong is just starting to bubble up. Ding hasn’t been in full flow with his game and has let the cue ball go awry a few times.
Vafaei Battles Trump
Hossein Vafaei is playing some top level snooker and capitalising on every opportunity that comes his way so far. A 66 break gets him on his way to the frame win and ties the contest up. We’re all squared up.
It all comes from a Judd Trump miss again, this time on the red.
That felt like a big visit from Hossein Vafaei. It was a chance that he thought maybe would never arrive when Judd Trump was poised to take the frame. How often do you see those [the missed black] from the world number one?
It looked like another frame that had gotten away from Hossein Vafaei but a missed black from Judd Trump allowed him in and he punished the former world champion. A 57 clearance from ‘The Prince of Persia’ gets him right back in the game.
No re-rack drama this time, just a nice clean frame for Judd Trump to extend his lead into the mid-session interval. He’s performing well but he’s definitely got another gear in him. Hossein Vafaei may need to change his approach after the break. The Iranian is clearly looking to disrupt Trump with a slower game but it hasn’t worked as to yet.
Tactical Approaches and Expert Opinions
When you come up against someone like Judd Trump, one of the most dominant players on the World Snooker Tour, you expect them to turn up every time and the only way to possibly get under their skin, and even then it is not guaranteed, is to put them under as much pressure early on and plant the seed of doubt.
John Parrott, 1991 world champion, shared his analysis on BBC Two.
Steven Hallworth, snooker commentator, gave his view.
Still searching for a century in the games.