Judd Trump is expecting a tough test against Jak Jones in the World Snooker Championship quarter-final, but feels he can ‘turn it on’ when required this year.
It is no surprise that Trump is into the last eight in Sheffield after a superb season that has seen him land five ranking titles already, but Jones is something of an unlikely name to see alongside him in the quarter-final draw.
The Welshman reached the same stage on debut last year, but has done little since then and had two tricky qualifying games just to get to the Crucible, before beating Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui on the big stage.
Trump, after seeing off Hossein Vafaei and Tom Ford, is hot favourite to progress, but knows that Jones is a hard man to beat, especially at the Crucible, it seems.
‘Tough game. I’ve played Jak quite a few times in my career and there have been times he’s played unbelievable against me, so I know it’s in there,’ said Trump.
‘He seems to love this tournament as well, so it makes him a dangerous player.
‘Maybe a bit more methodical than a lot of players, but that can be a hard to deal with in its own sense, because it can take a lot of patience.’
The 2019 world champion has beaten Vafaei 10-5 and Ford 13-7 but has not really hit the heights of his form just yet, knocking in just two centuries.
The 34-year-old is not concerned at all, knowing that he rarely performs at his best without a challenge and feeling like he can call upon his best stuff when required.
‘I feel like it’s hard to really play your best when you’re not being pushed,’ he said. ‘There’s not that buzz inside me or that pressure that I need to deliver now.
‘So maybe the concentration just hasn’t quite been what it would be normally. It’s difficult when people are missing easy balls, it’s important to just hammer home the lead I have and win as easily as possible.
‘The important thing for me is that I feel like it’s in there. A couple of times recently in the Worlds it hasn’t been there so it was never going to come out. This year, if really needed, I could probably turn it on.’
Trump and Jones begin their quarter-final clash on Tuesday morning in Sheffield, meeting for the sixth time in all competitions as professionals, with Jones winning once before.
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