Judd Trump knocks out Ishpreet Singh Chadha to begin Northern Ireland’s open defense in style

Judd Trump began his quest for a fifth Northern Ireland Open title with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Ishpreet Singh Chadha.

The world No. 1 won the title three years in a row between 2018 and 2020, and added a fourth crown last year.

His form has been good in the current campaign, he has a huge lead at the top of the world rankings, and he made short work of Singh Chadha’s challenge to set up a meeting with either Lyu Haotian or Matthew Selt.

Singh Chadha made an excellent opening red to start the contest, but that was as good as it got as Trump countered with points of 38 and 72 to put his nose in front.

Trump’s record in best-of-seven competitions is compelling, and he kept his foot on the gas in the second with an excellent break of 65. It was surprising that Trump did not win the match in one visit , as his split from a group of reds went wrong, but that only delayed things as the 2019 world champion returned to double his advantage.

Singh Chadha left the arena after the second frame and took some time to return, with Neal Foulds suggesting in Eurosport commentary that he may have gotten lost in the maze of corridors that make up the Waterfront Hall.

On his return, the Indian player kicked off the third frame with an excellent long red, but couldn’t get from black to his next red and was forced to run for cover.

Trump made his name through the magic of potting, but the security side of his game is very precise and he forced Singh Chadha to make a mistake.

It turned out to be a costly mistake, as Trump played a sublime positional shot from brown to red and it gave him a 28th century of the season and a 3-0 lead.

Commenting on a positional shot described by Foulds as “amazing”, Trump said: “Red over black didn’t work, so I went all-in to be as accurate as possible, because I was very confident at that time. »

Trump has reached at least the quarter-finals of every event this season, and the signs look good for a deep run in Belfast as he cruised to victory one frame later.

Singh Chadha had some leftovers to feed on, and it showed when he went for a tough red in the fourth frame and failed to fall. A raging Trump came to the table and picked up the balls needed to achieve victory in 50 minutes.