Another round – another top seed is dumped out of the UK Championship.
Judd Trump’s defeat to Graeme Dott in York means that the tournament is now without any of the top three ranked players in the world.
We lost Ding Junhui to Leo Fernandez in round one, Mark Selby to Scott Donaldson in round two and now Trump in round three.
But not so much a shock, this was a superb performance by Dott who put in a performance reminiscent of some of his finest displays on the big stage at The Crucible.
From 2-0 down, he hit Trump for six frames on the spin to win 6-2 and he looked like the former world champion we all know and love.
He combined fluent big breaks with his trademark battling qualities while his opponent didn’t look at all up for the fight. He rather worryingly wilted with the first signs of danger. The drawback for Trump of winning so many matches comfortably as he had very frequently this season is that when it matters you perhaps lack the battling qualities you need for the bigger tests.
Dott, on the other hand, loves the big matches the best and looks so at home out on the big stage; it’s why he’s in the game. The Scot has had a very indifferent start to the season and has been farmed out o the outer tables for the opening rounds of this tournament.
A big draw against Judd has brought him back under the spotlight; a place he really thrives. Once he settled, he looked to thrive under the pressure and reminded us all that he’s still one of the fiercest competitors around.
A win of this magnitude will do wonders for his confidence and paves the way for him to be a danger man for the rest of the week.
