Judd Trump may be a former winner of the UK Championship, but he feels his record in the event is really bad and he only ever plays terribly in York.
The 2011 champion came through his last 32 game against Xiao Guodong on Tuesday at the Barbican, but it took him the full 11 frames to beat the Chinese star 6-5.
The world number three was not at his best, but he did produce moments of excellence, including a break of 97 in the second frame and a match-winning 88 in the decider.
Trump was just pleased to get over the line and book a spot in the last 16 of an event he considers to be one at which he struggles, having only been past the last 16 once since 2014, and that was when he reached the 2020 final held in Milton Keynes.
‘My record here is so bad that it’s important just to get through those kind of games,’ Trump said after beating Xiao. ‘They’re the ones I’ve been losing to some of the lower-ranked players.
‘I know I’m going to have to improve, but it’s just nice to be in amongst these big events, battling on and anything can happen in the next game.
‘I don’t ever play well here, I don’t know why it is. I’m just awful every single time. Hopefully just getting through a game like that which normally I’d have gone out in the last few years.
‘The only time I have done well in this, it wasn’t even here, it was in Milton Keynes.
‘I don’t know why it is. It’s just probably a coincidence but I’ll just keep going out there, trying.
‘There’s no reason, it’s the same table. It just plays a little bit heavier here which doesn’t really suit my game. Hopefully one day I’ll adjust to it.’
Trump says he will have to improve in his next match and that seems certain as he will be taking on either Shaun Murphy or Dave Gilbert for a place in the quarter-finals.
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