Trump and Ding set for crunch session

Judd Trump today faced a cliffhanger of a closing session against Ding Junhui as he attempted to extend his fairytale run at the Betfred.com World Championship into the final.

Trump was in trouble at 10-7 behind last night but recovered and fired in back-to-back centuries to lead 12-11, before Ding won the last frame with an 87 to draw level.

The Bristol 21-year-old and China’s 24-year-old long-time world title hopeful face a maximum of nine frames this afternoon to decide who would go on to face either Mark Williams or John Higgins, both Crucible veterans and former champions.

With 17 frames the victory target for Trump and Ding, it was anyone’s match.

Trump won a host of new fans when he landed the China Open title at the start of April and even in China is close to rivalling Ding’s popularity.

Ding said: “He’s a nice boy. He’s got a lot of girlfriends, many girlfriends in China.

“I don’t know if he’s more popular than me, you’d have to ask him.”

A break of 64 from Ding nudged him three frames clear, but Trump had two breaks of 61 and a 71 to get back to 11-10 before rattling in 102 and 123 to lead again.

Steve Davis described Higgins as snooker’s “Terminator” as the three-time former Crucible king stayed alive in his clash with Williams.

Higgins trailed Williams 9-5 during their second session and was coming under a hail of potting fire from the Welshman.

But Higgins dug in to pinch the next two frames to finish at 9-7, thriving under intense pressure as he put himself firmly back into contention for a fifth appearance in the world final.

Davis, the six-time world champion, likened the Scot’s resilience to that of the movie cyborg killer played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“It reminds me of the Terminator film,” said Steve Davis, the six-time champion. “The only way you’re going to knock him out is to have one of those big presses.”

Williams led 5-3 after Thursday’s first session and looked sure to stretch his lead as he hit a hot streak, only for his flagging opponent to demonstrate impressive resolve.

“Many players would have been swamped by how Williams was playing,” former champion John Parrott said on BBC2. “He will be thinking to himself, ’How did I not win that session 5-3 or 6-2’.”

Williams began a hot potting streak with a break of 115, which ended in frustration.

He had his eye on the highest break prize of £10,000 but missed the green.

Mark King, who had a 138 in his first-round loss to Graeme Dott, is currently on track to pick up that bonus, and Higgins had looked set to make 140.

Williams clearly expected to clear up the colours and swished his cue in disappointment above the table when the green stayed up.

They resume this morning and play to a finish in the evening.