Gibraltar Open: Judd Trump wins sixth ranking title of season

15 March 2020

Judd Trump has become the first player to win six ranking titles in a single season by taking the Gibraltar Open.

The world number one beat Kyren Wilson 4-3 in Sunday's final.

Despite century breaks in the first and third frames, Trump still found himself 3-2 down to eighth-ranked Wilson.

A run of 123 levelled the match for Trump, who sealed it with a 63, to add to wins at the German Masters, Northern Ireland Open, World Open, International Championship and Players Championship.

The final was played behind closed doors because of coronavirus, so world champion Trump received the trophy in front of a handful of people, with no paying spectators present.

Not only did Trump claim the £50,000 prize money, but also a £150,000 bonus as the player who accrued the most money over the four events of the European Series.

Analysis - Coronavirus leads to farcical scenes

BBC Sport's Shamoon Hafez

This week's tournament started off as one that was limited to a crowd of fewer than 100 people but midway through it was changed to going behind closed doors.

Then came the news that one or two referees had become ill and were unable to take charge of matches and the sport had the farcical scenes where players were refereeing their own contest - Chinese player Liang Wenbo was picking the balls out of pockets for opponent James Cahill and vice-versa.

Despite this happening in a ranking event, the World Snooker Tour will continue to follow advice from measures put in place by the government and so, as it stands, the Tour Championship in Llandudno which starts on Tuesday will go ahead.

After that the next tournament scheduled is the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, set to start on 18 April but what situation will we be in by then? Will that still take place?

Plenty of questions remain. For example, many of the spectators that attend the season-ending showpiece in Sheffield are elderly and with measures coming in for over-70s to self isolate for a number of months, would they and others who have bought tickets be given refunds?

Llandudno no-go for Williams

Welsh fans hoping to see Mark Williams in action in Llandudno will in any case be disappointed.

He needed to win in Gibraltar to qualify for the event in his homeland, but Wilson beat him 4-0 in the semi-finals.