Trump bids to move beyond Davis' ranking event tally in China

Judd Trump needs one more ranking title victory to move above fellow Englishman Steve Davis as the fourth most prolific winner in the history of the sport.

The world No. 2 returns to China for the inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix next week (August 19-25), a month after winning the invitational Shanghai Masters title with an 11-5 final win over Shaun Murphy.

Trump shares fourth spot with six-time world champion Davis on the all-time list with both men on 28 tournament wins, behind Ronnie O’Sullivan (41), Stephen Hendry (36) and John Higgins (31).

Hendry was the first player to equal the Davis record when he won the 1997 International Open in Aberdeen, with a 9-1 final rout of Tony Drago.

While Davis compiled his victories in a 14-year period between 1981-1995, Trump has taken 13 years to reach the same total.

But the 34-year-old looks set to go well beyond that figure and is three years younger than when Davis won his final ranking tournament at the age of 37, with a 9-3 win over John Higgins in the 1995 Welsh Open.

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Of course, there is also a huge change in the snooker calendar from the era when Davis competed, with only six ranking events in 1984 compared to 17 in 2024.

Davis also dominated in a boom period for the sport in the UK with his only two ranking wins overseas coming at the 1992 Asian Open (9-3 v Alan McManus) in Bangkok and 1993 European Open (10-4 v Stephen Hendry) in Antwerp.

In contrast, 2019 world champion Trump has become used to winning outside of home territory, with 16 of his title wins coming beyond the UK since his maiden success at the 2011 China Open (10-8 v Mark Selby) in Beijing.

“I always like to feel in myself that I have put the work in,” Trump said Trump on World Snooker Tour following his dominant wins in Shanghai over Mark Williams, Si Jiahui, O’Sullivan and Murphy. “That comes a lot more on the mental side.

“I have won multiple tournaments in four, five or six seasons now and I know the technique is all there. It is what is in my head. I need to know I’m prepared. The players have more to look forward to this season and the prizes are getting bigger.”

Trump booked his spot in the last 64 of the Xi’an Grand Prix with a 5-2 win over tour rookie Antoni Kowalski in Leicester, and meets Ma Hailong in his opening match at the finals venue a week on Monday at 12:30pm BST.

Meanwhile, world champion Kyren Wilson takes on Haris Tahir in the first round with O’Sullivan set to face Wang Yuchen in his tournament opener.