Judd Trump is talking a good game at the World Snooker Championship this year, feeling fired up and confident in his opening round win and fancying his chances of lifting the trophy for a second time.
The Ace was handed what looked like one of the toughest draws in the opening round but made pretty light work of Hossein Vafaei, winning 10-5.
It was a significantly more enjoyable opening outing for Trump than last year when he crashed out in the opening round to Anthony McGill.
The 34-year-old has been accused of being a bit of a slow starter in Crucible campaigns, with another memorable first round defeat to Rory McLeod in 2017, but otherwise actually a very strong first round record.
Trump was well aware of how stinging last year’s early exit was and was fired up to make sure the same didn’t happen again this time round against the Prince of Persia.
‘I think maybe performance-wise, I think it’s more that,’ Trump said of why he has earned a ‘slow-starter’ reputation. ‘Obviously I’ve only lost a few times. One was Shaun [Murphy in 2007], one was last year and the one against Rory I was injured [with a shoulder problem] in that one.
‘I feel like I have struggled in terms of performance but this game was different against Hossein, I had the self belief and I knew I had to be up for it from the start. After losing last year you don’t want to go out twice in a row, so I just had that extra bit of fire this year.’
Trump’s win on Sunday afternoon is his second opening round victory over Vafaei in three years, hoping that a repeat of his 2022 final run will also be repeated.
‘I’ve had a few tough draws in the last three years now, I’ve managed to get past him a couple of times,’ Trump said. ‘Last time I went on to get to the final, I feel a lot sharper, a lot better this year so hopefully that game’s out of the way and I can relax into the rest of the tournament.’
After ousting the Iranian, Trump will face either Tom Ford or Ricky Walden in the last 16 and he does not mind which one it is, feeling he has a very decent shot of landing a second world title this year.
‘I don’t care, I fancy my chances in this tournament,’ he told the BBC. ‘Hopefully I can bring my best as the tournament progresses, but if not I’ll keep battling away and hopefully go far.’
There has already been a shock in Trump’s quarter of the draw, with Jak Jones downing Zhang Anda 10-4 in the opening round.
Despite a brilliant season so far from Zhang he badly underperformed and was comfortably beaten by the Welshman who made the quarter-finals on debut last year.
MORE : Hossein Vafaei goes on fiery Crucible rant: ‘It’s just really bad’
MORE : Judd Trump avoids World Championship banana skin with comfortable first round win
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