Judd can Trump young guns

Judd Trump is one win away from becoming the youngest person to play at the Crucible in 14 years after beating Jamie Cope 10-7 to reach the final qualifying round of the 888.com World Championship at Prestatyn today.

Trump, at 17 the youngest player on the professional circuit, must beat Thailand’s James Wattana on March 15 to seal a place in the televised phase.

He led Cope, this season’s Grand Prix runner-up, 9-4 after compiling breaks of 106, 66 and 85, but was put under pressure as the Stoke potter fought back to 9-7.

However, the youngster clinched the scrappy 17th frame to maintain his progress towards the Crucible.

Trump captured his first national amateur title at the age of 10, won the Pontin’s Spring Open at 13 and at 14 superseded Ronnie O’Sullivan as the youngest player to compile a competitive maximum break.

O’Sullivan was the last 17-year-old to play at the Crucible in 1993, seven years after Stephen Hendry became the first.

Sussex professional Mark Davis completed a 10-2 victory over Jimmy Michie to go through to a final qualifying round clash with Ding Jun Hui, the 2005 UK champion who has to pre-qualify as he is yet to join the game’s top 16.

Ding, 19, will become the first Chinese player to appear in the TV stage of snooker’s top event if he beats Davis on March 14.

Fergal O’Brien, a Crucible quarter-finalist seven years ago, defeated Walsall’s Mark Joyce 10-4 to reach the final qualifying round and was joined by compatriot Michael Judge, who beat Welshman Paul Davies 10-5.

The last round of qualifying, which starts on March 12, will be staged at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, a few miles from the Crucible.