𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Williams clears up! That will hurt Trump, who threw away some big chances to seal a two-frame lead at the mid-session interval. Instead the go in all square once more.

After a loose safety by Trump, Williams takes on a long red to the left corner, but it rattles the jaws and bounces out. Trump sets about clearing the table but runs out of position, leaving himself an awkward mid-distance red which doesn’t drop. Two huge missed chances!

Williams returns, trailing by 17 points with two reds still on the table.

This is another captivating frame. Williams puts on a break of 31 before running out of position and Trump responds with 26 points, but then snookers himself in the most bizarre way, drawing so much spin from the cue ball that it misses the pack of reds he was aiming to split and flies up the table.

Trump nestles up against the reds with a two-cushion escape at the second time of asking, and Williams is back at the table with a nine-point lead and a safety battle on his hands.

Trump scores another break of 71 but misses a red to the left middle which allows Williams to come back to the table chasing a snooker and a clearance to steal the frame.

Williams decides to polish off most of the balls before trapping Trump around pink and black, but he can’t get control of the safety battle and, after leaving the pink over the pocket, picks up the black to signal his surrender.

After Trump’s break-off, Williams plays a slightly loose safety shot which leaves a long diagonal red to the bottom-right corner – the cue ball needed to be much closer to the baulk cushion to be safe. Trump buries the pot and he’s earned himself a good chance to score once more…

This is world-class break-building by Trump, featuring a brilliant positional shot from yellow down into the reds near the black, developing several balls in the process. A break of 71 gets the frame won. What a match this is.

First blood to Trump in this frame, using the rest to steer a red into the bottom-left corner pocket. The reds are spread in little clusters which will need carefully untangling as he progresses through this break, but it’s an inviting situation to score…

Williams pots a brilliant, high-tarrif red into the bottom-left pocket and knocks in a few more balls to see off Trump’s challenge, and he’s ahead.

Mark Williams makes a beautiful half-century break to take control of this first morning frame, but he loses position after potting a thin black and now he can’t pot a red. End of break, leading 57-0 with 83 points remaining.

John Parrott, speaking on the BBC, lauds Williams and Trump for their contest yesterday: “That was my favourite session in the entire event so far – it had everything. Centuries, clearances, mistakes – magnificent.”