Championship League Group One

Ricky Walden won Group One of Championship League
Snooker with a 3-1 win over Judd Trump

Ricky Walden swooped to a deciding frame victory over Judd Trump in Group One of Championship League snooker and takes the first spot in the winner’s group.

Trump, who had not dropped a frame on Tuesday going into the final, took the opening frame on the colours after Walden missed the yellow all together after attempting a thin cut into the middle pocket. Walden levelled matters with a 67 break in frame two but Trump edged back ahead by taking the third on the colours. However Walden finished the stronger and took the final thanks to runs of 61 and 74 in the next two frames.

Walden battled back from 1-0 down to beat Ali Carter 3-1 in his semi-final with top runs of 62 and 85.

Trump might be thinking what could’ve been though after being easily the best player on Tuesday, highlighted by his 3-0 whitewash of Mark Davis in the semi-finals where he made breaks of 93, 77 and 53. However, he’ll take away £5,500 for his efforts over the last two days, including the high break prize of £500 that he achieved by making a 142 against Davis in their group stage encounter.

He’ll be back on Wednesday for the commencement of Group Two alongside Davis, Carter and Shaun Murphy, who finished fifth in the group. They will be joined by UK Champion Neil Robertson, Barry Hawkins and Joe Perry, who replaced Matthew Stevens with the Welshman now entering in a later group.

The two players to be eliminated from Group One were Stuart Bingham and Robert Milkins who were only able to muster one win each.