Judd Trump took advantage of Mark Williams‘ mistakes to lead 5-3 after the first session of their World Snooker Championship semi-final on Thursday. Meanwhile, Ronnie O’Sullivan is tied with China’s Zhao Xintong.
The later match at the Crucible started nervously, with many errors. A missed easy black by Williams in the eighth frame helped Trump gain a good lead overnight.
Although world number one Trump played his weakest session of the tournament, he finished well and had some lucky moments against the 50-year-old Welshman.
Williams, a three-time world champion, made a 116 break to tie the match 2-2 at the break, and the game stayed close with more mistakes as it moved to 3-3.
Trump won a tough seventh frame, and when Williams missed an easy black in the eighth, Trump took advantage with a break of 109 to move two frames ahead.
Earlier, O’Sullivan and Zhao, playing in his first semi-final, ended their exciting first session tied at 4-4.
Zhao wasn’t fazed by O’Sullivan’s experience. He took a 2-0 lead and finished strong with a break of 86, making the match level after the first part of their best-of-33 battle.
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O’Sullivan won three frames in a row and kept his opponent from scoring for nearly 34 minutes at one point.
Zhao, playing as an amateur after a 20-month ban for a betting scandal, started well by winning the first two frames easily.
O’Sullivan fought back to take a 3-2 lead, but Zhao caught up again.
In the final frames, both players played their best. O’Sullivan took the lead with a break of 82, but Zhao responded with a break of 86.
