Stephen Lee trashes Judd Trump in quarter-final clash of 2012 China Open
Winner of the 2011-12 Players Tour Champions (PTC) Grand Final, England’s Stephen Lee, has breezed into the semi-final of the 2012 China Open snooker tournament after showing his class against the defending champion, compatriot Judd Trump.
The Englishman played brilliantly in front of hundreds of snooker fans at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium arena to beat Trump by an easy score line of 5-3.
The match up began with Trump’s scintillating display of excellent snooker skills as the defending champion stormed into 0-2 early lead after pocketing two outstanding breaks of 65 and 92. His opponent, Lee did not lose hope and especially his focus on the
game despite a lot of pressure. He responded well with two stunning century clearances of 113 and 107 to pull level at 2-2 before the end of the first session.
The former Welsh Open winner continued his good form in the second session with back-to-back frame wins with the highest break of 60 in the sixth set to snatch the lead at 4-2. After that, the Bristolian potter hit the seventh frame win to move with one
frame up at 4-3 but that was not enough to stop Lee who took the eight frame easily to mark his name in the list of semi-finalists.
Speaking to World Snooker after his victory, Lee said, “Judd started really well, I was 2-0 down and I thought I was going to be sat down for most of the afternoon. I made two centuries to come back and then I fancied the job.”
The Englishman added, “But he's a cracking player, a cracking talent and I think if I hadn't had made those two centuries then he would still be in the tournament playing Stephen tomorrow. So I'm really pleased with the way I finished. I've been pretty confident
the last six weeks so it's been a mad turn around for me. I just wanted to beat Judd and I didn't care how I did it.”
Lee will next meet the Scotsman, Stephen Maguire in the semi-final clash at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium. Maguire defeated the former three-time World Snooker Champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-final by a close score line of 5-4.
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