Favourite Judd Trump suffers surprise defeat to Matthew Selt in UK Championship
Judd Trump is out of the UK Championship after a surprise 6-3 defeat to Matthew Selt.
Trump, favourite for the tournament in York, was a shock casualty on Tuesday afternoon as he lost in the third round.
The 32-year-old started well and took the opener with a break of 68. However, Selt grew into the contest and made four half-century breaks to reel off four of the next five frames.
With Trump threatening a fightback, Selt won a pivotal eighth frame on the black to lead 5-3 before holding his nerve to seal victory with a superb 128 clearance.
Matthew Selt has knocked 2011 UK Champion Judd Trump out in the third round!
The 2019 Indian Open champion made 128 in the last frame and faces Barry Hawkins next.
The Ace in the Pack is the tenth former UK Champion to lose before the last 16.#CazooUKChampionship @CazooUK pic.twitter.com/AJRvgdCwHS
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) November 30, 2021
Trump’s defeat saw him become the seventh player from the top-10 world rankings to be eliminated in York.
Afterwards he told BBC Sport: “I was poor from start to finish. I always struggle here I don’t know what the reason is. I felt flat from the start.
“I scraped through the first couple of games. I should have gone 4-4, that was a massive frame. If I could have won that one I think I could have gone on to win.”
Selt’s win saw him set up a fourth-round meeting with former World Championship finalist Barry Hawkins.
“I started off a bit slow, missing a good chance, and against a player of Judd’s calibre you need to kill every chance you get,” said Selt.
“But I managed to get a foothold and get back into it. He made some very basic mistakes and it was great news for me.”
Meanwhile, David Gilbert battled back from 3-0 and 5-2 down to win a final-frame decider against Mark Allen.
Gilbert knocked in breaks of 88, 68 and then 63 in the final frame to triumph 6-5. However, Allen was left to rue a missed black off its spot when it seemed he was going to close out the match with the score at 5-4.
How's your luck?
Pretty good.
👀 #CazooUKChampionship @CazooUK pic.twitter.com/mNL8S5qNXl
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) November 30, 2021
Luca Brecel whitewashed Stephen Maguire 6-0. The 26-year-old Belgian took full advantage of an out-of-sorts opponent, although he did have a little luck along the way.
A fluked red saw him go 5-0 ahead just as Maguire looked set to get his first frame on the board.
Anthony McGill also won a final-frame decider as he edged out Yuelong Zhou 6-5, while Peter Lines was a 6-3 winner against Sam Craigie.