Trump fights back to level with Jones after gripping morning session

Judd Trump and Jak Jones were left all square at 4-4 after a keenly-contested morning session of a gripping World Snooker Championship quarter-final at the Crucible.

Jones was playing some sublime snooker at times and will still be hopeful of causing an upset, but was left to rue several missed chances as he relinquished a 3-1 lead.

A missed pink from Jones in the final frame of the session allowed Trump to hit back and level the contest.

Trump was out of his stall early on with a superb century clearance of 110 in the opening frame after landing a superb long red.

This prompted an impressive response from Jones, as he capitalised on a missed Trump shot to the reds and punished a poor positional shot on his way to an impressive break of 69 to level the scores.

Errors were starting to creep into Trump’s game, and after failing to pot a red to the middle, Jones landed a superb long red himself and took advantage of promising-looking table to take a 2-1 lead.

The 2019 world champion was on the ropes in the fourth frame, with Jones showcasing his excellent potting skills once again to move 3-1 in front with a fine clearance of 94.

Trump potted a red after a fourth attempt in an error-strewn start following the first interval, but progressed to a break of 35 with the cue ball not landing kindly enough to continue ahead of an intriguing safety contest.

That was until Trump worked his way to a crucial break of 36 after landing a final tricky-looking pink and reducing the Welshman’s lead back to one.

Trump profited on a Jones double kiss on the red to work his way into a sizeable 69-21 lead in the sixth frame.

Jones needed two snookers that did not materialise, as Trump cleared up to the brown to level up the scores at 3-3.

Jones worked his way to another fine clearance of 74 that ended after missing a red to the mid pocket, as Trump conceded the seventh frame to go 4-3 down.

Jones looked to be motoring his way towards a 5-3 lead, but a routine pink to the middle pocket went awry and left Trump with a chance.

Trump needed a snooker but he got that after Jones missed a red, and the Englishman was back in the frame.

A cagey end ensued with just the pink and black left on the table, as Trump landed the former and he audaciously doubled in the black to restore parity at the interval.

On the other table the contest was more one sided as David Gilbert opened up a 7-1 lead over Stephen Maguire.

Gilbert made breaks of 130, 110 and 83 as he took control of the quarter-final.