2016 Masters (Day Six) - Trump: simply the best

The last day of the quarter-finals is now pure history as we have the complete line-up for the 2016 Dafabet Masters semi-finals edition.

Judd Trump beat Neil Robertson 6-5 in a brilliant match that carried no less than 6 century breaks, while the current world champion, Stuart Bingham recorded an important 6-3 victory over John Higgins.

Friday’s match between Trump and Robertson could easily be compared to some sort of gift from the Gods of snooker, for that's how bloody incredible it was!

Although the opening frame was a bit of a bore, Trump winning it with just a top break of 48, the show was sure to start minutes after that as the same player recorded the first century break of the match (104) to go 2-0 up.
 
However, his Australian opponent fought back (and also raised the bar with a perfectly matching 139 break) to draw level as the interval.

Breaks of 105 and 78 helped the Bristolian to regain his two-frame advantage, but Robertson was sure to catch up with him thanks to breaks of 100 and 41.

Being stuck at four apiece the tension raised and yet Trump held his composure and hit a beautiful 140 break to go just one away from victory. Surely this match would see a decider, right?

And indeed it did, for Robertson and his 78 break were making the scoreboard show a perfectly balanced 5-5 scoreline. 

The final frame saw an unbeatable Judd Trump clearing the table with a great 129 break. His puffed cheeks showed just how much pressure was on him.

The last quarter-finals match featured the likes of John Higgins and Stuart Bingham, the current world champ getting a semis pass after winning 6-3.

Things were pretty balanced for the first session of the match, the players sharing frames, but it was crystal clear that Higgins' focus just wasn't there. 

Missing important balls that were practically dropping his chances to win frames from a one-visit to the table proved quite costly during the second part of the match when Bingham used runs of 82 and 70 to go 5-2 up.

A bit of a hope arose when the Scotsman made a great 120 break during frame eight, but it was a bit too late for a comeback as Stuart closed the deal with a top of 48.

So here we are in the semi-finals of this majestic tournament, this Saturday the match schedule being the following one:

1pm
Barry Hawkins v. Judd Trump

7pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Stuart Bingham

*all hours are UK time

Photos credit: Monique Limbos