Six-time world champion Steve Davis has predicted that Judd Trump ‘is going to be the dominant force for a while’ in the world of snooker.
Trump won the UK Championship for a second time after beating Barry Hawkins 10-8 in a brilliant final in York on Sunday.
The two players put on a great show at the Barbican, having both come through extremely tough draws to get to the final.
But Davis believes it is Trump who is the ‘best all-round player’ in the sport at the moment and feels the world No.1 has his eyes set on a triple crown.
‘Taking the class of 92 out of the equation, Trump is going to be the dominant force for a while,’ Davis told the BBC after Sunday’s showdown.
‘Don’t think that wasn’t a brilliant performance because when someone is coming at you like that it would be easy to fail. The crowd was on Barry’s side and it can be easy to succumb under the pressure.
‘Judd could be setting his sights on the triple crown, but he has Barry in the first round of the Masters. What a banana skin that could be.
‘Barry Hawkins may be one of the best players never to have won a major title. He gave it everything and on another day he might have turned it over.’
Trump beat Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Zhang Anda and world champion Kyren Wilson to reach the showpiece, while Hawkins ousted Ronnie O’Sullivan, Dave Gilbert, Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen.
The two finalists settled well, with a break of 73 from Trump in the opening frame followed by a 116 from Hawkins in the next.
The afternoon session finished 5-3 in Trump’s favour, with the world number one in control as he made a 102 along the way, but Hawkins keeping his hopes very much alive with an 81 in the final eighth frame.
Trump kept Hawkins at arms length early in the evening session and moved into a 9-6 lead, looking set to cruise to the finish line before the Hawk got his claws into him again.
Nerveless breaks of 75 and 82 from Hawkins put him back within one frame and the final was alive once again.
However, a missed red when he had a chance in the 18th gave Trump the chance he was looking for and he made no mistake, knocking in another half-century to get his hands on the trophy 13 years after his previous UK title, although Hawkins had him worried as he played on for snookers and made things very tense.
The winner told the BBC: ‘The way Barry battled today considering what happened yesterday was incredible. Fair play to Barry, he made it so hard for me. The crowd have been absolutely amazing, I hope one day to have as much support as Barry!’
It was a marvellous effort from the Hawk in defeat, having not finished his gruelling semi-final against Mark Allen until just before 1am on Sunday.
Hawkins said after shaking hands with Trump: ‘It’s been a good week, I’ve beat some great players and I’ve lost to the best player in the world at the moment. He’s such a fantastic player, his all round game is phenomenal. It’s no disgrace losing to that man over there.’
The world number one prevails, though, and cements his place as the Player of the Season so far.
The champion pockets £250,000 for his efforts in York while Hawkins wins £100,000 for finishing runner-up.
Hawkins’ search for a first Triple Crown title goes on while Trump takes his tally to five, with two UKs, two Masters and one World Championship to his name.
Trump also won the first ever Saudi Arabia Masters earlier this season, which was dubbed ‘The Fourth Major’ due to its enormous £500,000 top prize.
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