Joe Perry stuns Judd Trump to seal shock Welsh Open glory

Joe Perry has beaten Judd Trump 9-5 to win the Welsh Open and complete an incredible run to the title after enduring one of the toughest seasons of his long career to date.

The 47-year-old had been sliding down the rankings and not been past the second round of any event so far this season, but burst into life spectacularly this week in Newport.

Having negotiated a very tough qualifying match against Dave Gilbert, Perry beat Cao Yupeng, Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, Ricky Walden and Jack Lisowski to make the final.

The final was level at 4-4 after the afternoon session but the Gentleman dominated the evening as he surged to victory.

Breaks of 108, 51, 66, 68 and 70 got the veteran over the line while Trump struggled to find anything like his best form.

‘I can’t believe it. This is the absolute highlight of my snooker career my a country mile. I actually thought it was coming to an end and now I’ve had the best moment of my snooker career by miles, by a long way.

‘To do it against a great champion like Judd is the icing on the cake.’

Trump had made breaks of 73, 69 and 60 in the first session and would have been disappointed not to come out ahead after playing pretty well, but he just could not click in the evening.

Having turned professional 30 years ago in 1992, this is Perry’s second ranking title after the 2015 Players Tour Championship Finals.

The Gentleman climbs back to number 23 in the world rankings thanks to the £70,000 top prize, after slipping all the way down to number 42 in the world.

‘Joe played the better of us from start to finish,’ said Trump. ‘Fair play to him, I want to congratulate him, he’s one of the nicest guys on tour so I think everyone is very happy.’

Asked what he could have done better on the day, Judd joked: ‘Not turn up, probably.

‘I wasn’t really there, I was digging in all day trying to stay with him, then I missed some easy balls in the middle of the match. I give it my all it just wasn’t meant to be.

‘It was a little bit of an off day for me, but I think Joe was the best player over the whole week and thoroughly deserved the win.’

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