2015 World Championship (Day 11) - Trump is ready for semis

Day 11 here at the Crucible theatre from Sheffield and Judd Trump looks more anxious than ever to get his fancy looks into the semis, after two sessions of "apocalyptic" snooker the Bristolian leading Ding Junhui 12-4.

Yes, you read it well, is not a typo. Trump needs just one more frame to get across the line and book himself a place in the semis.

"The Ace in the Pack" was truly at his best, but I must also add that Ding didn't too much wrong either. He was not given the chance to do anything, for that matter.

As the match started Trump's cue fired in breaks of 45, 54, 82, 94, 108 and 76 to take an outstanding 6-0 lead! It was like Ding wasn't even there.

The poor soul had a decent chance during frame three, when he make a 48 break and then in frame six when he lost position on 54, but that was about it.

Still, by the end of the first session the Chinese player managed to pull back two frames in a row with runs of 47 and 72 and trail by 6-2. There was still hope for a better second snooker rendez-vous, or maybe not?

Trump's breaks of 102 and 56 tell us that hope was vanishing, as three more frames were to enter his pocket as the match re-started.

Just before the interval Ding pulled back a frame to which he added another one after it, with the help of runs like 35 and 51.

But from 9-4 down, the gap just became bigger and bigger as the English player launched himself into a marathon of brilliant snooker backed by breaks of 42, 127 and 111 to go just one away from victory.

We all know that Ding is capable of comebacks and time has showed us just what he can achieve, but can he do it this time? All odds seem against him.

A more balanced match was the one played by Shaun Murphy and the Crucible-debutant Anthony McGill, after two sessions the Smurf taking a 9-7 lead.

Murphy kicked off with brilliant breaks of 100 and 125 to take the first two frames of the match, Ants took the next one on the brown, but the mid-session interval was finding the same Murphy in control 3-1 up after runs of 36 and 42,

After the 15-minute break a more revived McGill took the stage and by using breaks like 66, 89 and 65 levelled the match, but also took the lead, 4-3. Shaun hit back with a 49 to end their first encounter on a draw.

The second session started with the Scottish player and his marvellous 137 break, to which Murphy responded by taking a scrappy 10^th frame to retain the balance of the match.

Once more Ants put his nose in front at 6-5, but once more Murphy was sure not to let him get away with it and made the scoreline go 6-6.

The only difference is that this time he didn't stop there. A splendid collection of breaks (127, 45, 35 and 75) was responsible for a 9-6 lead, which looked pretty worrying for the Scotsman.

But as the match was about to finish, Anthony pulled a rabbit out of his hat and with a break of 86 reduced the deficit at just two frames. This could go all the way, don't you think?

Interestingly enough Ronnie O'Sullivan found himself being led 5-3 down after the first session played against Stuart Bingham despite his display of breaks 116, 118 and 87.

Bingham's counter attack came under the form of 64, 75 and 56, enough to put Ronnie under pressure. At least until the second session starts.

There was also an incident regarding Ronnie and Ronnie's chalk that was placed on the baize as a method of measuring the distance between balls, which apparently is considered to be a foul, but the ref didn't call it, Twitter erupted, World Snooker announced they will look into it .... aaaaaaand cut!  This was another episode of "Life on the green baize".

Another favourite to reach the semi-finals, Neil Robertson is actually in the same position as O'Sullivan (minus the chalk incident) as Barry Hawkins proved to put the Aussie in quite some trouble.

After Robertson took a comfortable 3-1 lead thanks to breaks of 115 and 70, everything changed drastically as Hawkins rushed in and started potting one ball after another, letting his opponent to rot in his chair.

Top breaks of 98 and 96 assured Hawkins of a 5-3 lead and a serious mental advantage over the Australian player.

All the aforementioned matches will see their conclusion this Wednesday, as it follows:

10am
Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson (3-5)
Ding Junhui v. Judd Trump (4-12)

2.30pm
Anthony McGill v. Shaun Murphy (7-9)
Stuart Bingham v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (5-3)

7pm
Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson (last session)
Stuart Bingham v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (last session)

*all hours are UK time