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Hard work pays off as Trump blasts into last 16

Judd Trump notched up three centuries on his way to victory over Fraser Patrick © Getty Images

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Judd Trump admitted that hard work was paying off as he beat Fraser Patrick 6-3 to reach the last 16 of the UK Championship at York's Barbican Centre.

Trump surged into a 4-0 interval lead and, although his opponent came back into the game, he had enough of a cushion and was always comfortable.

Trump made an 85 break in the first frame and when he made 129 and 130 in the next two, it looked like being a short afternoon's work.

The interval came at a good time for Patrick and he got on the board with a 66 break and then closed further to 4-2. The players shared the next two frames with half-centuries before Trump wrapped up the game with his third century, a 104.

Trump's attitude has often been criticised but this season he has won the Australian Goldfields Open, his first ranking tournament win for nearly two years, and reached the final of the recent Champion of Champions event in Coventry.

"I've put the work in a lot more than I have done in the past, probably 50% more," Trump told the BBC. "That's just because of my lack of results in the last couple of seasons, I felt like I'd stood still and everyone else had moved on around me.

"When I'm really confident I don't practice that much because there's no point boring yourself. But after Australia I played five hours a day solid, phone off and just practice. I'm trying to concentrate on my snooker and forget going out and stuff like that."

John Higgins produced a vintage showing to beat another former champion Matthew Stevens 6-2.

The Scot made breaks of 59, 81, 62 - after Stevens was first in with 61 in frame four - to lead 3-1 at the interval. He then added a 128 and a 52 in a convincing win and put his improved form this week down to a new shorter cueing motion.

"We were out together, us Scottish boys, and there's no quarter given," Higgins said. "Marcus Campbell told me 'I think I know what's wrong with you, Graeme [Dott] told me'.

"I've been trying it and it seems to be going okay. The last 18 months I've felt a little bit out of control with my game, I thought it's just old age, but I've felt a lot better the last two matches."

Higgins next faces Anthony McGill, who claimed a 6-5 comeback victory over Nigel Bond to progress.

Bond incredibly came from 5-0 down to beat Barry Hawkins 6-5 on Saturday evening and runs of 54 and 90 gave him a 2-1 lead after McGill had opened with a 60. He extended it to 4-1 but McGill fought back to level 4-4 before taking the next two frames.

David Morris followed up his stunning 6-4 win over Mark Selby by beating David Gilbert 6-2 with breaks of 60 and 65 and will face Stephen Maguire or Mark Williams.

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