Northern Ireland Open: Judd Trump wins Alex Higgins Trophy with victory against Chris Wakelin
- Published
Judd Trump won his third straight ranking title with a commanding 9-3 victory against Chris Wakelin in the Northern Ireland Open final.
World number three Trump has now won 20 matches in succession.
Victory in Belfast follows his titles at the English Open and Wuhan Open.
Leading 6-2 after the afternoon session, the Englishman registered three centuries in four frames in the evening to lift the Alex Higgins Trophy for a fourth time.
It made him just the fifth player to land three consecutive ranking title wins, after Ray Reardon, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Ding Junhui.
Trump collected £80,000, taking earnings from his three trophy runs to £300,000.
The 34-year-old took the first frame, before compatriot Wakelin fought back to lead 2-1 at the Waterfront Hall, helped by an 87 break.
Wakelin, 31, was hoping to win his first ranking multi-frame tournament, in what was only his second ranking event final, but the match soon ran away from him.
Trump had won all 11 previous contests in this rivalry and breaks of 51, 97, 63 and 96 eased him into a 6-2 lead at the end of the afternoon session.
The 2019 world champion saved his fireworks for the evening, as breaks of 101, 125 and 129 saw him crush Wakelin's hopes of a fightback and wrap up a 26th ranking title.
Trump said: "Things have happened so fast over the last three weeks. It feels surreal now and it has not sunk in. The last session tonight was the best I have felt in the whole 20-match run, I felt really sharp."
He now sits fifth on the all-time list of ranking event winners, nudging ahead of Mark Williams. Ronnie O'Sullivan heads the list with 39 titles.