WORLD GRAND PRIX 2024 SNOOKER LIVE: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN ADVANCES TO SEMIS, JUDD TRUMP BEATS CAO YUPENG TO REACH FINAL

Greetings and salutations and welcome to the live coverage of the World Grand Prix by Eurosport from the Morningside Arena in Leicester.

After a commanding 5-1 victory over Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson, snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan advanced to the round of eight. He will now face Ding Junui, who defeated Zhang Anda 5-2. Judd Trump advanced to the final by defeating Cao Yupeng in the late session.

I’m done talking!
Okay, that’s all we have left for tonight! A fantastic evening for Judd Trump! Come see who he will compete against in the World Grand Prix final tomorrow starting at 6:45 p.m.!

Ronnie O’Sullivan or Ding Junhui will compete in tomorrow’s semi-final. This is a summary of their victory earlier in the day.
69-36 TRUMP 6-2 CAO
And that’s it! Cao clips the green over the right corner and extends his hand. Trump has advanced to the final of another rating tournament!
5-2 TRUMP CAO (69-36)
Alright! When Trump cross-doubles the yellow, it appears like the game is over. However, as he attempts to smash the green home, the object ball leaps off the table. That means four points are lost! We need two more four-point snookers.

5-2 TRUMP CAO (67-32)
Cao is trying hard at this. Behind the blue, one fantastic snooker match, and behind the pink, another. Trump makes two excellent escapes.
5-2 TRUMP CAO (67-32)
It was difficult for Cao to add the black after removing the loose red. This leads to a lackluster safety. Is Trump able to win the match? Not yet, at least not yet. The yellow bounces to safety and rattles jaws.
5-2 CAO (67-24) TRUMP
And a very firm pink in the center! That’s definitely it! Cao needs two four-point snookers to win the match after Judd misses the final red.

*61-24 TRUMP 5-2 CAO
Oh no! His attempt to ram the black in rattles the jaw! After returning across the table, the cue ball nestles up against the cushion. For Trump, there’s a crimson down the cushion, and it’s basically match ball. He smokes!
60-23* TRUMP 5-2 CAO
The cue ball runs into the cluster beneath the pink spot and sticks near to a red, which could be Trump’s salvation. Cao finds this awkward, but he extends acrobatically while sitting on the table and fires a red home. He’s moving forward once more.
CAMBO 5-2 TRUMP (60-0)

This bears a lot more resemblance to the Trump of the first three shots. The pack of six is opened up by a deft little run-through, albeit he doesn’t receive a very strong bounce off the upper cushion. He misses to the far knuckle, and the next black is really hard.
*51-0 TRUMP 5-2 CAO
Trump has so far used five reds, each paired with a high-value color, and done so delicately. He makes a really neat opening by screwing back through the pack after that sixth red. But there’s an issue. When the pink resurfaces, it must move to the rear of the group, deactivating a red for the duration.

*14-0 TRUMP 5-2 CAO
For Trump, a bit of luck and bad luck in the same picture. He pots a great opening red, but the black is cannonballed into the white, rattling jaws and staying out. Conversely, the cue ball nestles against a crimson! He needs to locate the middle of the pocket by placing the blue into the green pocket. a powerful opening to the frame.
90-24 TRUMP 5-2 CAO
At the end of that frame, did some of Trump’s fluency come back? He’ll be hoping that. 48 hours passed before attempting some “Naughty Snooker” and failing to hit the pink. He’s only out of the final frame.

4-2 TRUMP CAO (*66-24)
And with Trump adding a third blue to his third red, snookers is now a need. The table still has one red. It’s in the right corner, on the top cushion. It’s not an easy pot, but he manages to make it, and by adding another blue, Cao is unlikely to return to the table.
*54–24 TRUMP 4-2 CAO
With four reds still on the table, Trump enjoys an 18-point lead. He has an opportunity to tidy up one of them when Cao has a bad shot; he sinks into the left middle and adds the blue. He won’t have another opportunity to make it 5-2.

4-2 CAO TRUMP (42-24)
Cao cleans up that red, but his break ends abruptly on the eighth with an incredible error in judgment. He tries to fire the blue into the green pocket, but he makes the wrong contact, causing the white to bounce up the table instead of missing the object ball entirely.
4-2 TRUMP CAO (37-16)
But on 27, he collapses! It doesn’t go well when Trump tries to use a couple reds against the blue. He misses the lone pot, which is a very delicate clip to the left corner.

*31-16 TRUMP 4-2 CAO
At some point, someone has to blink, and Cao is the one who makes the mistake. The major issue is that Trump doesn’t have much work to do to hold for the high-value colors because he left the cue ball at the top of the table. Now that everything is somewhat open, he has a great opportunity.
4-2 CAO (10-16) TRUMP
Once more, an amazing pot, this one a cross-double. After crossing the baulk line, the cue ball rises again. Although he has excellent safety off the brown, he chooses to tuck in behind the difficult green instead of playing it. Despite being in a lot of trouble, Cao makes a fantastic play, bouncing off one cushion and rolling into.

4-2 CAO (9-16) TRUMP
Black and pink are tied up, there’s a lot more safety play, and the table gets more and more odd. As he plants a plant, Trump pots one great red, but no other color emerges.
4-2 CAO (8-16) TRUMP
Cao gets two reds and a black, but the pack is packed quite closely together. He tries to hit the yellow pocket with one loose red, but misses. Is this going to be another sticky frame?
TRUMP 8-1* CAO 4-2
Is Judd making a comeback? He gets position on the black after launching a fantastic red to start frame seven. The next shot is extremely difficult and calls for a long rest in order to make a careful cut. Even worse, it looms over the things he misses.

4-2 CAO (77-18) TRUMP
But now, frame over! When Cao covers the right middle with the remaining red, Trump wins. That was a terrible frame, but he’s back to his two frame advantage.
CAO 3-2 TRUMP (62-18)
After making a few visits back, Cao gains an additional 15 points. 44 behind, one red remaining on the table
TURUMP 3-2 CAO (62-3)
Really, the table has just one loose red. Trump makes no mistakes as he screws back for the blue and smashes home when Cao misses a pot on it. He clips the cue ball into the yellow pocket by taking it behind one of the four surviving reds. It’s not frame over, however he misses the succeeding pink, so snookers are needed now.

CAO 3-2 TRUMP (55-3)
Alright! What a fantastic shot! Trump scores a fantastic safety, but Cao notices an absolutely amazing red in the right corner. He essentially has one shot left, and he strikes it flawlessly. Then, he is extremely fortunate because the cue ball sends another red ball up towards the yellow, knocking it over the pocket! What a fortunate break! However, he hits the next red too quickly and misses it.
TRUMP 55-0; CAO 3-2
Trump makes a 46 contribution up until the point where he loses ground after running off a red. The next blue misses, but given the positioning of the six remaining reds on the table, that is a really handy 55.