Semi-Final - Judd Trump v Barry Hawkins Masters Snooker

Good afternoon. It's a beautiful cold, crisp day here in

Good afternoon. It's a beautiful London. We are just getting a couple

of gulps of fresh air before London. We are just getting a couple

inside Alexandra Palace for the London. We are just getting a couple

final weekend of this year's Dafabet Masters. We've been here since

Sunday and we've seen the thrilling return of Ronnie O'Sullivan and

witnessed arguably the greatest matches we've seen since 1975. It's

been the week in which we lost David Bowie and only last night commander

Tim Peake broke new ground in space. Today, who will be our star men in

the semifinals? I can tell my grand kids that I

played the best player in the world at the semifinal of the Masters.

Always great to get the opportunity to play in a Masters semifinal, so

it is really good to be there. I like to be in the semifinal, such a

big BBC event. Yeah, there's only four people left now. It will mean a

lot to get to the final. There's a lot of support here. That will not

be good enough for me to be in the final. I want to win it. So it is an

all-English semifinal line-up. Three of the four names the same as those

which appeared at the Crucible semifinal stage nine months ago.

Only Ronnie O'Sullivan replacing Shaun Murphy. Ronnie has a big match

against Stuart Bingham this evening. The first of our semifinals features

the world number 8 Barry Hawkins up against Judd Trump, he's the most

junior of our finalists by 10 years. After a brilliant, mesmerising

performance yesterday to beat Neil Robertson many think it could be

Judd's name which will be etched on to that trophy tomorrow night. Judd

Trump, the new kid on the block, to the winner's podium at least, and

the player perhaps best placed to make the most of the worldwide

domination now of snooker. He is only a young lad. He's got ten years

ahead of him at the very least. And he's already been, as you've said,

very successful. I love watching him play. Love commentating when he's in

the tournament. He's one of those that entertains the crowd. Plays

wonderful shots, amazing cue power and he likes to express himself. On

the table. It is great to see, a bit like Jimmy White in his heyday, some

of the banana shots he can play, the screw-backs. He really does love

pulling off the wonderful shots. He does like to give it a crack, but

that's naughty snooker. That's the way he tlieks play. You know, you

get the balls flying around the table at that pace they are going to

go in somewhere. Maybe that's the theory. But he is so entertaining to

watch. I played him at the Crucible some years ago and it took me a

while to work him out, because he is so attacking. But nowadays he has

coupled that with an astute tactical, safety style of play. If

he wants to he can go toe to toe with anybody in the game. It is not,

he hits the ball, and he gets some cue action into it, but it's not

like a Ronnie O'Sullivan, where it is nice and free flowing. Of the

stops and starts, but the speed of the cue through the ball generates

so much power. He is one of those players, as you said, he's got time

on his side and he is always going to be there or thereabouts. You can

see him at the World Championship for many years to come. OK, as

usual, trying to find a weakness in a player is very difficult when you

get to the top class players. It would have been easy to say you

outplay him tactically. Perhaps three years ago you could go yeah,

but that loophole seems to have been closed up, so where is his weakness?

For me I think there's a couple of technical things in his game which

maybe under the most intense pressure might let him down. There's

quite a lot of body movement on the strike which you wouldn't

necessarily teach. At the address position, he cues up across the

ball. On the back swing, as he delivers the cue, he has to self

correct. On the days where his natural talent doesn't kick in and

correct the problem, they're the days he misses shots that you

couldn't believe he could miss. He has to keep on winning as those cars

and shoes are expensive. Very, and the watches! Yesterday's match

between Judd Trump and Neil Robertson was a masterclass and

probably the best of the best of 11 I've ever seen at the Masters. He's

dropped a double has he? He has! It was a superb game to be involved in.

We both played well but we drove each other on, it was a great game.

And that is a 139. Highest break of the tournament. Interval, two

apiece. Judd was sensational to forge clear, but every time he went

two frames ahead Neil Robertson showed his grip to come back into

the match. Well played. Very well played.

Fantastic! It's the highest break of the tournament, beating Neil

Robertson's 139 with a 140! Absolutely tremendous. I dug deep

and played really well to get it back to five each. What a marvellous

shot that was. We've got a deciding frame to look forward to. I wanted a

chance but it never came my way. I've got to give Judd full credit

for the break in the last fames. In particular the opening red was an

outstanding shot. What a shot! Unbelievable. What a shot. It was a

tough move to the middle. It rattled around the pocket about 100 times.

My heart dropped. As soon as I saw that drop in, I thought to myself,

this is your chance now. Well, how did that drop?! It takes someone

having to play like that to beat me, and you have to hold your hands up

and say, well played. It has been absolutely sensational. One

and say, well played. It has been greatest matches you will ever see.

Judd Trump is in the semifinal and he wins a classic six frames to

five. He showed tremendous mettle to get over the line, a wonderful

century break in the final frame, but he is back to work again today

against a formidable opponent in Barry Hawkins. He's my buddy, he's

my good pal on the tour. Great to see him getting out of snooker what

he should do, as he's a hard worker, a great player. So tight, so

granite. But a top lad. He was always one of the kids that everyone

said, he's going to go on to bigger and better things. I think every was

surprised it took him a bit lower than than everyone thought to

progress up the professional ladder. If anybody wanted to play Barry and

he doesn't get the credit he deserved. All the players know what

a player he. Is he's such a competitive player. He is such a

laid-back character. A fantastic player. A great record at the

Crucible. A lot of belief in himself. I love the way he strokes

the ball. It is very difficult to do that under pressure. Mr Reliable and

consistent. Very solid player, off the table a genuine guy, would do

anything for you. He ain't a bad bone in his body. There's a few of

the lads on the tour they are quite spiteful and that, but Barry's not

one of them people. I've seen the other side of him but I'm not

prepared to let that out on camera. We'll leave it as though he's a

really nice guy, yeah? It settled me down a bit, that first match after

five years. It is such a big BBC event. Judd's realised you can't

play everything. When things ain't going that well you're going to get

beat. Beat. He has improved his safety game no end. It is going to

be a really tough game. Getting to the world final was unbelievable and

to do, to get to a final in the second biggest tournament we've got,

that will be another great achievement really. I will have to

play at the top of my game to get through. If I do, I'll be delighted.

Delighted. Another great crowd here at Ally Pally for semifinals day.

The majority of fans here are frothing at the mouth of a Judd

Trump Ronnie O'Sullivan final. But there's two massive banana skins for

those players to get over Absolutely. Barry Hawkins, he's sort

of like a quiet assassin, a silent assassin that has crept into the

semifinals not had too much media attention. He is Mr Reliable. Judd

Trump will have to scrape him off the table to beat him today. And a

world finalist. I was watching the match, Neil Robertson and Judd

Trump, in the office with Barry Hawkins. He said I hope Judd Trump

has baulked himself out for tomorrow. Ronnie O'Sullivan and

Stuart Bingham. Stuart Bingham looks like he has relaxed and is enjoying

himself without the albatross of being world champion. The last man

to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarterfinals of the World

Championship. He will have his own support here. A lot of fans will be

for Ronnie O'Sullivan, but I think Bingham lives down the road and he's

going to be up for it. Ronnie will have to be on his guard against

Stuart Bingham, as he is getting better and better as the tournament

has gone on, Stuart Bingham. Judd Trump, do you think he will have a

hangover after the frenzy of yesterday? One of the best matches

in the best of 11, no doubt about it. Fantastic quality. That's the

big question, is he going to suffer hangover? He's the favourite now,

not the underdog. We'll have to wait and see. Back to Hazel.

guys. Another 2,000 strong crowd today. Record attendances all week.

Today the Hawk taking on? Juggernaut. Last match went to a

decider three years ago. Are we going to get another thrill er to

warm us up as the temperatures fall outside today? Let's find out. MC

Rob Walker is all set there. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to semifinals Saturday here at the Dafabet Masters. Neither of

these players have been in the final before. What an occasion, what an

opportunity, and what a backdrop for the drama to come, ladies and

opportunity, and what a backdrop for gentlemen, it's show time here at

Ally Pally! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.

Please welcome a player enjoying the best Masters run of his career so

far. He has flourished in the last few seasons, winning the Aussie Open

in 2012 and the PTC Grand Finals two years later, beating mark Allen 6-2

in the quarterfinals. The world champion finalist is ready to roar

once more. Here he comes, Barry Hawkins!

APPLAUSE. And his opponent, the most exciting

player of his generation. His record-breaking win against Neil

Robertson yesterday was simply sensational. It was one of the best

matches he's ever played. When he's in the groove, he is irresistible to

watch. So here he is, with his own brand of naughty snooker, the ace in

the pack, he's Judd Trump! APPLAUSE.

They are playing for a place in the Masters final and a guaranteed

cheque of ?90,000 at least. But more importantly for these two men

another shot at one of snooker's big three titles, the Masters. I know

that John Parrott and Dennis Taylor are very much looking forward to

this. Good afternoon Hazel, good afternoon everyone. And Barry did

win the toss and he is breaking off. In this battle of the left-handers.

And the big question, John, is, can Judd keep going? That is the big

question. Performance against Neil Robertson that was stupendous. But

it's back to work again today. We were in the studio yesterday, just

as he was leaving and he did his interview, Steven Hendry leaned over

and said, you do realise you are only halfway through. It was a

brilliant question to say, you've had a brilliant performance but

you've got a lot of work to do. It can be awkward when you've had a

peak performance to come back to work next day. Judd was saying

earlier in the week, you can beat a player 6-0 and go out the next day

and lose 6-0 to the same player. Very impressive this week, Barry

Hawkins. He went through a bit of a lean spell. Remember he lost the UK

to Nigel to 5-0 in front, lost 6-0, took a bit of getting over, that

one. Interesting listening to the boys as we came on air. Barry

Hawkins probably doesn't get the recognition that we all think he

deserves. He's a top class match player. Rarely plays the wrong shot,

and everything he does play is usually played to a very high

standard. You've got to beat Barry Hawkins. He doesn't give you too

many opportunities. I think he's a top class match player. And also,

Dennis, a very nice lad. You heard all the players talking about him.

He's a smashing fellow. Can he produce his top game? He knows he'll

have to, the way Judd's been playing.

A good shot from Barry, that. You can see the way he's cueing across

that slightly. Oh, he's hit the blue. It does look tight, that shot

he is trying to play. Judd Trump 5. Sorry, Barry Hawkins 5.

LAUGHTER. Nevers are getting to everyone! A rare mistake from the

referee, the most experienced referee we have. Mistake

referee, the most experienced referee we have. -- nerves. That was

just catching the edge of the blue. No red is available, to it will be

put back. You've got to get this right and try to help the referee as

much as you can. But the edge he is trying to clip here really is fine.

Watch Judd when he plays this again. Shaun Murphy mentioned his cue

action. He hits it as he straightens up. I always think situations, it is

difficult to get the cue ball exactly right. But he is making it

worse for himself. You are right, it is so difficult to get it absolutely

spot on. Even bringing it up on the screen isn't going to help in this

instance I don't think. It is only fractions we are talking about. The

players here are just so honest as well. One thing Judd will not want

to do is get any advantage from this here. He will want it to be spot on,

exactly how it was. It is like an unwritten rule between the place. He

could hit it or he wouldn't have played the shot. If he's... He's

changing his mind now. May just decide to drop on the top red on the

top cushion instead. It is too tight.

APPLAUSE. Nice shot. Once again a packed audience today. A wonderful

crowd here at Alexandra Palace all week. This is one of the great

sporting events. Saturday afternoons at the Masters. Takes me back to

watching on Grandstand, always wish I could play in such a brilliant

occasion. APPLAUSE. Judgeded that to

perfection. Watch the cue action here. Judd will be down on the shot.

Goes slightly across this. It is one of the traits of his cue action.

Doesn't stop him playing well. It is just the way he does it. There's a

little difference. Turning into a bit of an awkward

frame with the black now tied up. He won't mind a bit of a safety

battle here, Barry. Helps him to settle into his semifinal and keep

his opponent away from the table. But he might knock this in. That was

close. But where is it going to finish? He's going to stick it up

over the middle. So the first chance falls to Barry.

He's got an angle on the blue he wish to try to develop the black

and reds, but he wouldn't be guaranteed good position on a red.

He's got the pink and blue in the open. I agree. If there was a red

over the pocket somewhere he would be playing that cannon straight away

to get the black into play, but as there isn't he will try and sort

something else out. He's got the bottom red just away

from the bunch there he can play off back up from the blue.

A little too close for red towards the corner. A nice shot

with a bit of side up for the pink. And he looks comfortable. You

with a bit of side up for the pink. player. If you've reached the final

of the championship you can play, and he can handle this situation as

well. Always nice in the opening frame to get your hand on the table.

I will tell you what is amazing these days, John, how many of the

top players are left-handed. Going way back there was only one or two

players. Even in this tournament alone... We've got these two

players. Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Mark Williams.

I suppose you could say Ronnie O'Sullivan's left-handed as well,

when he wants to be. I mentioned the other night in the

studio I think it was talking about Barry saying that there was an

economy of effort with the cue ball. That's because his break-building is

very good. Wants to keep the cue ball into the object ball nice and

tight. That's the art of break-building. If you can make it

look simple you're doing it correctly. A lovely touch.

Doesn't have to worry about that black now he's got the reds nicely

placed. That pink in the open. And if he could win this opening frame

with one visit, it would send a message out to Judd. Judd only

missed the first shot. The only ball he could leave the way he played it

was the one that he attempted to pot. On that occasion it did finish

over the middle pocket, so this is the result. They've got an

interesting head to head as well, these two. Only played on four

occasions. It is currently 2-2, so he won't be in total awe of the

talent of trvrp, will Barry Hawkins. Rp,

talent of trvrp, will Barry Hawkins. -- the talent of Judd Trump, will

Barry Hawkins. And he has taken these nicely so far.

So this the obvious red, then the one to the right-hand side of the

black and the loose red is pottable in the middle. The

black and the loose red is pottable in the middle. -- pottable in the

middle. Dropping the pink in and got the red

on the right-hand side. That will be next. He's taken these beautifully

Dennis. A lovely touch. If he can knock this in and be nicely on the

pink it will be the end of the opening frame.

APPLAUSE. Looks as if we are in for another cracking match here. Barry

has started. Just looking at the scoreboard but he's over the line,

the winning line at the moment. That makes absolutely certain. Hugely

impressive, this. First visit to the table with a chance and he's won the

frame off it. Very impressive indeed. If Judd Trump was in any

doubt how his opponent was going to be playing today, he's just found

out. Excellent. If that red next to the black is available, every chance

of a century break, and it does go. APPLAUSE.

The crowd were urging the red to keep running.

The pink is the better ball to get onto the final red. The standard

this week has been absolutely stellar. It really has. These boys

really are good. A fantastic break from Barry

Hawkins. The 11th century in this year's Masters, or the 21st century,

I should say. 31 is the record. It has to be said that the tables

are playing beautifully. This one and the tables in the practice area,

they are absolutely beautiful. What a start from Barry Hawkins. Judd

Trump attempted the long pot. He did not get it and he remained in his

seat as Barry Hawkins cleared the table. HAZEL IRVINE: Only his fourth

at the Masters, that century. It is extraordinary. This man had never

won match at the Masters before turning up here and now he is

playing in that form. Oh, dear, that was not in the script. Judd Trump is

supposed to do that. That is the problem for the top players,

guaranteeing winning against players like Barry Hawkins. People think

Judd Trump will beat Barry Hawkins, but we know

Judd Trump will beat Barry Hawkins, very impressive. When we go back to

how he got in in the first place, with Judd Trump missing the red. If

you look at the state of the table when Barry Hawkins came to it. His

positional play through the break was top-class. Absolutely sublime.

That is what makes him a good break-builder. Every time he is like

that, six, eight inches from the next ball, pinpoint, making it look

easy. He is so steady, so reliable. It sent out a statement to Judd

Trump. To say you will have to play well to beat me.

Not the break fee intended but What a start, back we go.

Not the break fee intended but fortunate to cover the red with the

brown I know one thing, Dennis, Judd Trump

must get fed up watching everybody played brilliant against him,

because Neil Robertson did yesterday. It took a performance as

good as I have seen from Judd Trump to take out the Australian. Judd

Trump must be thinking, is anybody going to miss against me?

I thought Neil Robertson's interview after was saying you have to hold up

your hand when a player plays like that. Meanwhile, he has not played

the best safety shot. OK, it is close to the cushion, but I would

not be surprised if he put this in. I don't think the red is available,

to the left. He would have to be very precise to hit it full ball.

That might be OK. It was difficult to judge that one.

Could not have come out any better. The way that runaround. You could

not ask for any more. In the match yesterday Judd Trump

made the running. He went two frames ahead, then getting pegged back by

Neil Robertson. But it is different today so far. OK, he only lost the

first frame, but it was the way Barry went about it that put down

his intent. He was reluctant to play for the

black because he knew the bunch of reds were not ideally placed to

cannon in off the black. I don't think you can hold for blue, this

time. He would have liked to and gone into pink again. I am wondering

whether the two reds at the back of the pack are easily made into a

plant. If not, he will play the cannon. We can see they are not a

plant. A firm stun into these. That will do nicely. Right in the

centre. He punched the shot, played it perfectly. If you play that with

screw, you can bring the cue ball back to the top cushion. Stun it out

with some side and bring the cue ball up the table. He could not have

played that better. His nickname is the Hawk. He

certainly has his eye in at the moment.

What is impressive is his demeanour. He looks as cool as anything. It

looks like he is enjoying the occasion. As the players were

saying, he is a laid-back character. He is like a mini Mark Williams.

But he dresses much better than Mark Williams, that is for sure! Who

doesn't?! Just talking about Mark Williams,

what a performance he put in this year at the Masters, almost knocking

out Ronnie O'Sullivan. He is one of my favourite players to

watch. Very clever the way he plays the game. He has a wonderful touch,

and still playing at the top of the game, which is a great credit to

him. Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins is going about his business in an

impressive fashion. A cannon to flick out the red.

The cue ball ran away. Did not get the cannon. It needed to be thicker

than that one. These are tricky when you get close to them and you cannot

see the pocket in your eyeliner. In the end, he made it look very

easy. It was very well judged. Will he take the second frame with

one visit? He keeps his head very still on the

shots. He does a lot of things right. He is an all-round top-class

player. I must confess, with the record he had at the Masters, you

would be hard-pressed to see him at this stage. Playing five times

recently and losing every time, but after getting past his good friend

Joe Perry, and then beating Mark Allen, Judd Trump knows he is in for

a tough afternoon, the way his opponent is playing. Judd Trump has

only had a go at the long red, and that is it, he has been sitting in

his seat for the remainder of the time.

Surely he could not start with two centuries?

Judd has the highest break, 140, superseding Neil Robertson's 139.

He can play the cannon here. Flick the red away and put it into play.

APPLAUSE. If that red is not available, he

could pot this and flick it out. He will want to make sure of the

century. The red blocking the way through to

the blue, so the pink for back-to-back centuries. Absolutely

brilliant. The crowd came here and did not know

what to expect, but I do not think they expected two centuries from

Barry to start the match. You know, this used to be a hard game, Dennis.

He is making B table looks like a full table, Barry Hawkins, at the

minute. -- pool table. His cue action has been superb. You cannot

play better than this to start a semifinal. You talk about

yesterday's match with Neil Robertson being the greatest match

ever in the Masters. The way this has started, who knows how it will

ever in the Masters. The way this finish? This could be one of the

all-time great matches. He slightly overran position, which is something

we have not said today. But everything has been going into the

centre of the pocket. Not touching the sides. That tells you you are

cueing well. What a shame the black did not go in. Starting

cueing well. What a shame the black following it with a break of 128.

We can see people coming in, just a little bit late, they have missed a

treat. Like you going to Everton and missing the first two goals. Have

they ever scored two goals?! This is unbelievable, the start from Barry

Hawkins in this match. 130 and 128, it is dreamland, in one of the

biggest matches of your career. Almost caught the blue with a break

of shot. This is a half chance for a Judd Trump special. But he has been

kept off the table. APPLAUSE.

That is top drawer, to knock that in after what he has just witnessed

from his opponent. REFEREE: Put the camera away, please. Now, has that

gone wrong? I think it has. He will have to pull out another cracking

pot. Brilliant. Not perfectly on the black, but he will be going into the

reds. He was not on the black as he would have liked, but at least he

has not left anything easy for Barry. There is one pot on and he

would need the extension to clip it in. The type of shot, if you were

just dropping it in dead weight, you would probably pot it. It was that

first cannon here overhit, that caused the problem.

I saw Barry early this morning, he was in the practice room on his own.

On his own as a player, but he was with Terry Griffiths, who has been

mentoring him. If anyone knows top-class tournament snooker, it is

Terry. He has been there, seen it, done it. A great champion in his

time. It is always nice to have Terry in your corner.

That was an interesting shot. I think that is the first time he has

played a poor positional shot. He needed another couple of inches to

drop on the red, but it came straight.

He looks in the zone, Barry Hawkins. He really does.

He had the cue ball cleaned, maybe that took his concentration slightly

away. All of a sudden he has missed a sitter.

Yes, I did not see that coming, and neither did he. Shaking his head. We

were just saying how focused he looked. He will be amazed as anybody

that he missed that one. It always looked a little bit wide, and so it

proved. He would have loved angle on the red to be able to open up the

reds, but he cannot do that. He could cannon into them but if he

has the ankle, he could pot it and open up the reds. That is what he

has played. Because the pink is over the pocket, he is guaranteed to be

on it and he can open up the rest of the reds. That was well judged. A

classic example of how to make a break. He left it purposely low,

potted the red, split them up. And a great chance. But he needs to get

involved in the match. He has been frozen out. He knows the opponent is

playing well. He has two score. He came up a little bit short. He

should be OK. We'll have to play a medium length pot. It is much better

when you can keep closer control. Amazing. Amazing. Just the wrong

side of the blue, but I still fancied him to knock that in. Just a

little bit of movement. The red jumped a little, which did not help,

but I do not think he cued it well. What a chance he let slip. It is

about getting on the right side of the blue.

Well, he has had a reprieve. A second chance.

Just a couple of fairly easy balls Barry has missed after those two

centuries. Incredible. Judd was 2-0 up against Neil Robertson. He has

done the opposite here. That was a good strike. Straight on the green.

He could easily have got that wrong. Beautiful cueing to get that spot

on. There is no excuse now why he cannot take this frame. They are

there. As we always say, you do not settle until you get your first

frame on the board. He had no chance in the opening frames.

How big a ball might that be in the context of the match? 2-0 up and he

had his opponent on the rack. I think it am settled him

had his opponent on the rack. I right middle, also. -- am --

unsettled. A naughty shot from Judd Trump, as he always likes to do at

the end of a frame. A wobble, but still went in.

Probably a double to finish off at 100 mph. Well, 200 mph. That is the

way to finish. Even Barry had a big smile. Barry Hawkins did not look

like missing and suddenly he missed a sitter of a pink.

Barry might have missed a trick there. It took Judd Trump a few

minutes to pot the first ball. A tale of two misthere is wasn't it?

It?. Yes, it looked like he would make the frame with one visit, but

missed the click. Maybe his concentration tripped a bit. Missing

a pink gave Judd a lifeline and he took it. In terms of Judd's

response, there you must be feeling pressure knowing that your

opponent's well up for it and in great form. Judd was very wobbly,

because he missed the red earlier and Barry Hawkins gave him another

chance with that one that missed the pocket. He got it in the end. The

tough thing from Barry Hawkins' perspective, not digging him out one

little bit, there are players in the game that perhaps are more

relentless scorers than we've seen Barry Hawkins. If you've got

somebody on the ropes like Judd Trump, two frames up there's more

pressure on you because you think, wow, I've got a great chance here.

Some players are better at being more relentless at reeling off 6-0s,

massive amounts of frames on the trot. Perhaps Barry Hawkins looked

over his shoulder a fraction. Do you think he is ruing that missed pink?

It was a really good opportunity to go 3-0 up. It will be interesting to

you see how he reflects on that. I know John Parrott was talking about

the old days watching the Masters semifinals when he was a kid. This

is the first all-English Masters semifinal since 1988 when you, Mr

Davis, Hallett and Jimmy White were in the semifinal. The good old days

remembered. Happy times. The Masters used to be played at the

Wembley Conference Centre, a fabulous venue. Probably a little

bit bigger than Ally Pally, but the people are so close to the table

here. At the Conference Centre you could be quite away from the

audience. I remembered playing with John Higgins and 2,700 people there.

I will never forget that as long as I live. Every time you went back to

your table you had to remember the plant, it was a circle wasn't it. As

Barry comes off the side cushion to land in the pack, on one of the

earlier occasions I was introduced and couldn't find my way into the

arena of the there was a little door that used to open and I couldn't

find it. Happy days, but I do think this is a

wonderful venue, I really do. A brilliant atmosphere. And that was

where the MC introduced Jimmy White as Jimmy Young.

And home of the infamous streaker as well. I remember that one. I was in

the commentary box when she went underneath it. I was looking at the

table at the time. LAUGHTER.

REFEREE: Settle down please. Thank you.

This is a little bit of trouble for him. Going to play off the side of

these, you're going to hit this very thin indeed. You can't guarantee

that you're going to not contact the blue on the way past either. On the

way back, I should say. Yep, there was a fair degree of difficulty in

that shot. We might as well call this a half

chance, as the pink is out of commission. I don't think the black

goes into the left corner. And the two reds are tied up next to the

black. If the black does pot, it will help

the situation for a few shots' time. It looks as if it's the available,

so it is not tied up. A few more shots to be played before he is able

to get on to the black. He's had a quick look at it. It is a

fairly tight one. It is one of those situations you

really need to be that side of the table where Judd is to properly see

whether that goes or not. Players can look from behind the pocket but

I don't think that makes too much of a difference. You can always seem to

feel as if you can make the pot go from behind the pocket. It needs to

be the other side to make a good judgment on it. But if he is looking

at it for this length of time it is obviously very tight. As we zoom in,

it looks as if it will go. I don't think he's got an angle on

the red to play for the black on this occasion, so he'll have to

concentrate on the blue. You see, that type of shot, he hits

that so well without really forcing it. Beautiful timing. Barry Hawkins'

positional play so far today has been a little tighter than Judd's

cue ball control when heed that these two breaks. It was superb.

Judd is such a good pot per. So much cue power he seems to be able to

rescue the situation when he slightly goes awry. He still isn't

sure about that black. He's been shaking his head.

And if he's got an angle he can he's looked at

And if he's got an angle he can nudge the other reds away. But he

may not have that. No, not on this occasion. You've got to play it now,

Amazing. In the end we did think it Judd.

Amazing. In the end we did think it was tight and in the end he put it

on to the red. It was always looking like that, really tight. In fact it

was not directly in line with that red. That confused the issue there.

No top class professional will take a shot on something they don't think

goes. That was extremely tight. At least he got away with it. He

didn't put Barry in. APPLAUSE. Excellent shift shot.

Excellent weight on the cue ball. A bit of a free shot here, a shot to

nothing. Brilliant pot. APPLAUSE. That will teach him to

plain a good safety shot. An incredible pot. When we call ate

shot to nothing it is where you take a pot like this on a very difficult

pot and you know you're going to get a safety shot if you happen to miss

it. But in the end rolling up behind the brown has given him a slight

advantage. He's gone twice across the table here to land on the red.

He doesn't want to slip past this. the table here to land on the red.

Otherwise he'll leave it up. Oh, that's a bit careless from Barry.

And the worst part is he's just got to drop this red in dead weight.

These can be pretty difficult down the top cushion, but just dropping

it in... That's a perfect position. So you feel as though the momentum

has changed in this match. I'm going to hark back on about that pink but

it was 2-0 and he was in the balls, that miss on the pink could be

crucial in this match. He had his opponent on the rack, did Barry

Hawkins. Even in the best of 11 you can

always pick out one shot that can turn a match, and that was the shot

that John was referring to. Oh, he hasn't judged the cannon. Is he OK?

Just about, I think. Yep, no problem.

Steve was talking in the studio when we went back before saying some

players are a little bit more ruthless in their capacity for

keeping the pressure on. We know that Steve was certainly one of

those. Hendry was another one. Great champions here. If they felt there

was any weakness, they would keep new your seat. They would be trying

as anybody to do that to do that. 2-0 became 3-0 became 4-0. That's

why they were great champions. A little bit of a test here. Not

straightforward, this, but he makes them look easy. Well played.

APPLAUSE. So many players now playing to such a high standard, but

Steve Davis, if you made a mistake, you used to sit down and get rough

ready for the next frame. Just needs another red after this

black. And it may be a possible plant, which would secure the frame,

if the plant goes in. Is it in line with the pocket? That looks good to

me. APPLAUSE. They'll be feeling much

better now after watching the two opening frames there. They would

have been wondering what was going on. Had a little bit of help in

frame 3 with Barry missing a couple of opportunities, Judd Trump, but

he'll be delighted to get to the mid-session interval 2-2. He's

played very well in this frame. When you are sitting in your chair and

watching your opponent start with breaks like that, a great response.

He got a terrible kick there which has spoiled the break. Is he going

to double the pink across the table? APPLAUSE. I don't think these two

are a plant. There's just a possibility he could make a century

break. I don't know if he can squeeze that. It is going to the

left of the pocket. If they were touching the he might be able to

squeeze the second red. No, it wasn't on.

APPLAUSE. But I will tell you what, Judd Trump will be delighted with

that break of 58. And we go to the mid-session interval two frames all.

I'm sure he'll be relieved. To what extent has he weathered that storm

do you think, Steve? He'll be delighted to have got out of that.

At one stage he looked like he would be under pressure. From a fishing

analogy point of view Barry Hawkins has had a big one on the hook. And

let him off a bit. Would you agree with that Ken? Absolutely. It was a

test for him. Two search ries against him, but he has shown a lot

of composure, a lot of character. Set up nicely now for the second

part. It is interesting his response. He talked this week about

being favourite and not really enjoying that position. He likes

being the underdog. Likes having to prove something here. It is a

reversal of psychology that he faced against Neil Robertson yesterday. He

couldn't do much at the start. Barry Hawkins was magnificent. A first

chance, Judd Trump, potted a red and missed a forgettable black. You

could feel he was under it but he was let off. It only takes one hot

from Barry Hawkins' perspective for him to take his foot off the gas and

the other guy can get the engine started. All of a sudden you think

normal service has been ruined for Judd Trump and you now go, OK, we're

back, it is going to be Judd Trump that wins the match. But don't put

it past Barry Hawkins to have a breather, have a chat in the

interval and come out firing again. It is funny. Even though he played

so well in the opening frames, he won't be thinking about those two

centuries. He won't be thinking about the positive talks about the

two centuries. It will be, how did I let him off the hook by missing that

pink? It will be Terry's job to get that out of his head and think

positively for the second half. We'll talk more about Barry shortly.

Judd Trump is already a UK champion. He won that in 2011. In snooker's

three tournaments he got to the UK final against Ronnie O'Sullivan in

2014. It was a pulsating match, which he lost in a final frame

decider. Last year Stuart Bingham beat him at the Crucible in the

semifinal there. So ironically when he turned up here for all of his

achievements in the game and the near misses he seemed short on

confident. Listen to this interview he did earlier in the week. Your man

who plays with a lot of confidence, you go with the shots, try and

entertain all the time, but what's been missing in the last few months?

I think the standard is so high. As soon as you lose your game or lose a

couple of games in a row through no fault of your own, there's no easy

rules. You've got people playing really well now. You are starting in

the first round, so it is hard to get any run going. You've got to win

a lot of matches to get to the last 16 and then you are playing people

normally you would only have one game to play before. So it is very

hard to keep the momentum for seven games in the tournament. But you are

one of those guys, you are a top player and every time, you are one

of the favourite to win any tournament. Do you feel you have

that confidence that you might have had a few years ago, or are you

trying to get it back a little bit? The confidence is nowhere near what

it was when I first broke through. I think my all round game is 100 times

better but confidence is the big thing for me. If I can get it back I

think ky go a season oar two winning four or five events like Ding did.

Do you think looking back to the World Cup eight or nine months ago,

that semifinal, had you got through that and maybe gone on the win the

World Championship, do you think those matches do, they linger in the

back of your mind, or do you just look forward? No, that was a great

chance for me to win it. In the end the only reason I lost was I put too

much pressure on myself. That was the only reason I lost that. 90% of

the games I lose nowadays is because I feel like I shouldn't be losing to

the players. I've got such an expectation of myself that a lot of

the times it is a hindrance. I need to let that go and all these players

I'm playing in the Masters I think for me every game is a 50-50, so for

me it is probably better that I haven't put as much pressure on

myself. Sometimes I just feel like I'm playing people that I should

beat quite easy. As soon as it goes close I get a bit embarrassed with.

Some really bad thoughts that shouldn't be going through my head,

so I just need to go back to when I was enjoying it when I was 21 or 22

and going for my shots, rather than trying to win too much. Judd Trump,

when we see around the circuit, you are quiet, shy 2014 unassuming lad.

What are you like for people who are watching at home away from the

table? What do you like to do? What are your interests? We know you like

flash cars and nice holidays. I've kind of gone off that a little. I've

matured a bit, trying to invest my money, get a lot of houses. The next

thing hopefully is a nice big house ky stay in for a while. Other than

that I like to enjoy myself. I don't really go out as much. I like to go

shopping and watch other sports and take inspiration from the leaders of

other sports. If you following you on Twitter you used to have pictures

of Vegas parties. Are you calming down now? Is there a mar mature side

to Judd Trump outside of snooker? Yes, I've wasted a lot of money on

that life. For me it is not going out as much in London as I used to.

I used too be out every week, two weeks. Now I've been out once since

my birthday in August. I'm still 26 and if you look at the age obvious a

lot of the top players, they are 35 and 40, so I feel like I've got a

lot of time left in the game, but I want to get all my achievements out

of the way so I can relax from 30 onwards rather than trying to win

the world later on in life. Is there someone who has a calming influence

on you? Not really. I think I go through spells. I think the defeat

to Wen Bo sunk in and I'm not practising hard enough. At lot of

the players are overtaking me. I feel like I've got into it my head

that everyone is working much harder than I am. I decided to practise

every single day, even if it's the only for an hour or two, even over

Christmas. No days off. Just to get my Ministry of Defence-set that I

know I'm working harder than everyone else, so I've got that

confidence that I've worked harder than you. What about the naughty

snooker, is it always going be there? It is always going to be

there. At the end of the frames I enjoy having a whack. I watched a

lot of snooker recently on TV and sometimes it account be a little bit

slow, so just for the crowd to shout out and get involved and I know when

I'm going for it the crowd gets a bit of the excitement, so that

brings me on as well. The very best of luck. Thank you. Wasn't that an

extraordinary interview? He revealed a sensitive side to him, a

vulnerability that he's rarely shown to us. I wonder about this identity

crisis he seems to have gone through. He's the the flair and the

talent of an Alex Higgins and a Jimmy White and a Ronnie O'Sullivan.

It is almost like he he had to live up to the paternity as well. With it

is the expectation and maybe the pressure to try and live up to that

sort of lifestyle outside and away from the table arena. But he doesn't

have to do that. He can just still be a maverick on the table but it

looks like, talking to him it was quite open. I was surprised by how

candid he was during the interview. I get the sense that he has matured

a little bit and said, I've enjoyed myself and blown a bit of money on

flash cars and parties, which is well and good, but he has to knuckle

down. He has the talent to compete with the Selbies and the Ronnie

O'Sullivans of this world. He could take over the mantle of Ronnie

O'Sullivan if he steps down. He can be the people's champion, it looks

like he is maturing as he gets older. And there is no doubt that

Barry Hawkins has put the work in as well. Three years ago he turned up

at the Crucible and had never been past the last 16 there either.

Suddenly it was a breakthrough run. Got through to the final. Same

situation here, never been past the last 16, bang! He's in the

semifinals. It is another click moment and he's been talking to John

Parrott. So, Barry Hawkins, semifinal of the Masters, what's

happened?! I dunno. It is a bit similar to the Crucible really. I

won a match there. I suppose it settled me down a little bit. I

dunno, it is strange how it's happened. I'm delighted to be here.

It is your sixth appearance and five times, didn't even get past the

first round. Up believable that isn't it? I Kim close a couple of

times but crumbled. I played good stuff here, but it was finally nice

to win a match. It was obviously a difficult match, because I'm really

good friends with Jo, but I was delighted to get through that. It is

not the venue is it? You are used to playing here. It is not one of those

things you get in your mind you don't like playing a certain

veteranue. No, it's not to do with the veteranue. A lot of tournaments

it is multi-tables and this is a single table. It takes time to

settle. If you can settle down and play some good stuff. That's

probably what's happened really. What's your form been like for the

last six months or so, has it been good? Not really. It's been

terrible. I started off well, won a little event in Riga, so I was

started off well, finished at the semifinals in the Crucible. The

first tournament I played in I won, so I thought, that's handy. Perhaps

that weren't a good thing, perhaps I took my foot off the pedal a little

bit, didn't work as hard maybe for a little while. Maybe that had

something to do with it. Sometimes I get a little bit down with the game,

and travelling and stuff like that. There is nothing like a good few

kicks up the bum to get your attitude back again. You said there

you sometimes get down on yourself with the travelling. You've got a

young family, that makes it difficult. Yeah, I've got a young

boy, he's 7 now. What Barry's done for the game is great. But the

downside is you are away a lot more going to airports, planes and stuff

like that. That. I've not had a great record abroad. It is something

I'm trying to work on. Just get on wit. Because I probably haven't got

long left in the game. You mentioned the Crucible. It was only a few

years back when you reached the final. That was a tremendous buzz

for you. Unbelievable. Something I will never forget. Especially

playing Ronnie in the final. Can't get much better than that. By all

accounts what everyone told me it was a really good standard of final,

so it is something to look back on. I will always be proud of reaching

the final. I probably know the answer to this question, but do you

believe you can win this tournament? I definitely can now. There's only

four people left, so, and everybody says it, but if you can take your

practise game out there, and you know that you can place, you've got

a chance. If you don't do that, you'll be going home. I need to be

at the top of my game. I wish you best of luck. Thank you. I'm sure

Barry's son Harrison will be proud of his dad's effort. Eagle-eyed Mr

Davis has been analysing the life out of something from the first four

frames and will now attempt to recreate it live on television, but

only if it's the easy enough to use with someone else's cue. Thank you

Hazel. Judd Trump let off the hook a bit in the first half of that match.

Especially at 2-0 behind. He was left with a black cut back into the

corner pocket into a blind pocket as we say. Barry Hawkins let him off

from that position, but let's look at that shot. There's the shot.

White ball low and he's got the black. Here's the white ball, the

other side. It is exactly the same angle but the two shots appear

different. One is considereded to be cutting back into a blind pocket.

The other shot you have to pocket in your field of vision. So here's the

other shot from this side. You are on the black and you can see the

pocket. It is not much more off the line. But if we go round to this

shot, where you're cueing up cutting it back, you are looking in this

direction and the pocket is right over there. And also you don't see

so much of the pocket, because it seems a bit cut off. You can't see

the depth of the pocket. But it is exactly the same shot. They are both

exactly half-ball shots. I've set them up the. So here's the position.

If you are able to put a ball, an imaginary ball or a ball in front of

the black in line with the pocket, all you've got to do effectively

from wherever you are is to imagine where that ball's got to be, the

imaginary ball, and aim your cue ball along the line. So it doesn't

really matter where the ball is on the table. It can be even thin ter.

It can be around here. If you can somehow imagine where the ball has

to be and then simply just play the one ball, op to the imaginary ball.

Let's take you to the blue spot area. Here's a practise routine for

you. These reds area. Here's a practise routine for

imaginary ball. If you are struggling cutting balls in, do

imaginary ball. If you are as a routine. Put a white ball by

the blue. You need a friend with you as well, and play from different

positions around the blue spot to get used to where the ball's got to

arrive. It is easy for a centre ball strike. You've got replace the whole

of the cue ball with the blue. But let's take you to this point here.

All of a sudden you go around. It is harder to judge, but as long as you

can play the white ball to the imaginary ball. If you are

struggling, get down to the ball in place and get a friend to remove the

other cue ball from the table and then just hit the cue ball in a line

with the blue. You have a ball here that is a half

ball shot. This is called a quarter ball pot and they happen all over

the table. Effectively, potting is nowhere near as difficult. You can

simplify things by doing this. HAZEL IRVINE: Thank you very much.

He is doing this tonight on the BBC Facebook page, questions you will

answer this evening, yes? Keep them clean and make them good and he will

certainly answer them. For real, here they come again.

Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump. All square after an interesting four

frames. Remember it is the first to 6 who will go through to the final

tomorrow. Both players back into the

auditorium and myself and Dennis had a cup of tea and both players seemed

very relaxed backstage. Both players enjoyed a little bit of

downtime in the middle of this cracking semifinal.

No need to go to the practice room. They are both playing fairly well.

They have been here just over a week and their game is very sharp. You go

to the practice table if you are struggling a little bit.

The pot success rate is identical. That is for the tournament. Amazing,

both on 85% for the safety success. That tells you a story.

Judd Trump has changed his game slightly and for the better, it has

to be said because you cannot keep putting your way into winning

tournaments, you have to have a good tactical game. This frame is already

awkward with two reds up the other end of the table.

You always have to be careful with that shot. Sometimes you get

obsessed with getting the cue ball so tight the red can flick out and

go to the middle pocket. On these fast cloth is the reds open very

quickly. Judd played that pretty well. He could have a go to the one

in the middle pocket but he cannot risk that because he would put Judd

right in amongst them. It is amazing whether red finished,

in the final frame against Neil Robertson the White was in the jaws

of the pocket and Judd knocked a red like that in and won the match with

a century break. That was not easy. He had a go at it

but he knew he would get a reasonable cue ball. There are no

plants on. Two on for the right corner and

another two on the left side of the bunch.

He took on the double. It was a clever shot. Very clever shot. I

could not agree more. The double and also elements of safety. Only really

the red he played he could stick up. The way that was played was very

smart. He does play shots different to other people, which makes them

attractive to watch and difficult to play against. Sometimes there is not

a uniformity to the game when you play against Judd Trump.

He does play a lot of different shots and that one was very clever.

Well. That is a lapse in concentration. He was a couple of

shots ahead of himself. How he missed one that easy, it is amazing.

This game, if you did not give every shot 100% concentration, it is

incredible what can be missed. I am in a state of shock he missed

that and I am sure he should be. Really, that was an absolute sitter.

Good shot. Lots of top spin. Straight through the pack. You can

see the cue ball jump. In the old days that could have been a foul

shot but you have to jump over an intervening ball so you can play a

pot like that and it does not matter if the white bounces over the balls.

He still has a little bit of work to do. The next red has to be the one

on the top cushion, unless he can manufacture something else. Good

cueing required. They are not too bad when you are

just dropping them in, but when you play them with pace, you have to be

spot on. No problem. He seemed to get a bit of Czech side

on that that he did not want. -- check.

It has helped the situation, he has pushed a red to the left corner,

which he can get onto after the pink. I say that, as he gone far

enough? I think he is OK. This is a great chance. If you can punish that

bad mistake from Judd, it will give Judd something to think about.

He was reluctant to play the cannon. He has the balls nicely open. You

know when you risk playing a cannon, it can always go wrong. His heart

was in his mouth. He did not want the cue ball going anywhere near the

middle pocket. He got a little bit lucky.

Now it has happened, it is perfect position.

I remember reading many years ago, AJ Davies book, saying there is no

such thing as an easy shot. It still applies today as it always did. -- a

Joe Day this book. -- Joe Davis. It was one of the easier shots, but

it will cost him the frame. The interval came at the right time

for Barry Hawkins. He made two magnificent century breaks, missed

an easy pink. A fairly comfortable red. But now he is back where he

started the match. With a little help from his friends.

It is a horrible situation, if you are Judd Trump, just sitting in your

chair, after the mistake you have made. You have to sit and watch your

opponent pot the balls that should have been yours.

No century break, but he will not be too disappointed about that. The Mac

office and break of 74 is more than enough to get him back into the

lead. I wonder a miss like that, is it

more perplexing and worrying for Judd Trump, given the form he was in

yesterday? It is a shock to the system. As we talked about before,

when Barry missed the straightforward pink, you thought he

had missed a trick but Judd Trump has missed a trick, because the

momentum was with him. When you are in position, you have to press home

your advantage and if you miss easy balls, you give your opponent the

chance to win the frame and also you give him more confidence. John

Parrott talks about trying to follow up a peak performance and that is a

another example, after playing as good as you could yesterday. How

great a factor can it be for you as top-class players? It depends on the

individual. Some players, it gives them more confidence and they are in

the zone. A shot like Judd missed, it comes out of the blue. There is

no such thing as an easy shot, as John said. But you have effectively

taken it for granted on a shot like that. The top players to some degree

have to take the pots for granted. Out of the blue, you miss a shot you

would not miss in practice. It can be a shock to the system and destroy

any confidence you had. It remains to be seen if it has any bearing,

but it certainly lost timber frame. -- lost him the frame.

He could not take the pot on because he would go straight into the pink.

Oh. I think everyone in the Ally Pally thought that red would drop.

It was a poor safety he played. Judd could do with knocking a few

in, just to erase the city he missed in the previous frame. -- sitter.

He played in an area where he had the option of two. The bottom red is

available and if he gets this, he will move or reds about. That was a

nice controlled shot. Looking to see police reds, because

they are not a good pack to go into at the moment. -- the police

loose reds. . There are still a few reds available.

That might just be OK. There is one to the site that will go.

He let that go and that is a lapse of concentration.

A terrific recovery. That is a tough shot, into a blind pocket. You

cannot see the pocket in your I -- eyeline. That was a row of somebody

putting in hours on the pack to his table, which he did in the Christmas

period. He did not go home for Christmas this year, he stayed where

he practises, putting the hours in. So he is making sacrifices. He

realises he is at the stage of his career when he should be winning

major championships. He is paying his dues. His family live in the

Bristol area. It is still a straightforward pot,

but he will have to can the red. He could have done without that, so he

is looking at the more difficult pot.

He was trying to stay on the black, but the important thing is to clinch

the frame. This is showing his class after the

previous frame. Missing that absolute sitter of a red into the

middle. That is well out of his mind, now.

This is very impressive. The shot earlier in the break. To keep it

going. It was fabulous. It was an acute shot. He could not have played

it better and he deserves everything he got after that. It is a great

response. And this yet another century at this

year's masters. What a standard. Superb. His 375th career century.

The 22nd in this year's masters. You cannot do better then get one

chance and get a century. A good way to draw level. Three frames each.

In fact that was the 23rd century this year. The record is 31,

achieved in 2009, John. Yes, it has been a phenomenal standard this

week. Yesterday with Judd and Neil Robertson. You will not say better

than that, ever, in my opinion. This is a fascinating contest, off that

there is no doubt. Barry Hawkins starting with breaks of 130 and 128,

Judd coming back. The scoring has been fantastic in this match and he

is doing well today, Judd. The question at the start, would he be

able to do it? Meanwhile, Barry is back in the arena. It has a 6-5

written all over it. That was not the best break off from

Barry. The way Judd knocked that century, he has an early chance. He

is so good at this type of shot. That is what we call a Judd Trump

special. The longer pot success is very good

indeed, 83%. Such a fantastic weapon in the

arsenal, to put the long pots in, get yourself amongst the balls. OK,

Barry's break was not good. It is something the players should work on

more, the break of shot. It is important, these days. It is

something you would not normally practice.

This will be awkward. He will probably need the extended spider

because there are so many balls to bridge over. He took a risk and he

was unlucky to finish where he has. All of those balls to bridge over.

He is switching hands. It will be useful, but that is just as awkward.

I am not sure he can get near the cue ball extended. It is not very

often you are bridging over three in a line. Very tricky.

often you are bridging over three in be a safety.

Will he have a go with the extended spider to see what it looks like? It

is worth a shot. It will be interesting to see if he can reach

over. He is quite tall. He is smiling because he does not fancy

this one little bit. No. He just wants to keep potting balls, but I

think he will have to play the safety.

He will be disappointed, but he played the correct shot.

I do not know whether the two reds are in line for the plant. Looking

at Barry's face, it tells me it is on. The one thing you have to do

with this, if you know it is a certainty, is to play a good

positional shot from it. APPLAUSE. And he's got a good

positional shot off it. In a couple of shots' time he can get on the red

next to the black. Might even be able to do it from here. He's OK.

Found the gap for this one, but that's the first chance he gets

he'll get on that red that's closest to the black and get into it play.

Here we go, that's the plant into the corner. Nothing worse when you

are stand ing with your cue in your hand and you look at the table and

think, oh, no. I've left the plant on. We could see it in his face. He

knew straight away that he had left it on and there could be a few more

to come here. Some very good quick frames indeed.

We've had 11, 13 minutes, the longest frame believe it or not was

just over 16 minutes. Refreshing and really good to watch.

Quick-fire snooker at its best. And he looks like he's got the momentum

now, Judd, to turn this match around.

APPLAUSE. That's virtually frame ball there. Just the black to make

absolutely certain. Still a possible 67 on the table. It is just a

formality here. APPLAUSE.

This was the safety shot that Barry played. He thought he had got it

reasonably safe and then he walked round, seeing that the plant was on.

And that was his last shot. Look at that, 365 points each.

That's a point for each day of the year.

He's taking a bit of time over this. He's mad clean on clearing up or

making a century. Oh, what a try that was. He got too much action on

it, so is there a double that will keep... Let me show you this shot

again. Look at the action on the cue ball there. He'll have to pull off a

fantastic double to give himself a chance of that century break. A

treble will do! APPLAUSE. That really was what you

call a naughty double that turned into a naughty treble. And he's got

the angle here. Pot the black and flick the red out, if he wants. Oh,

he's missed the cannon. Even Judd Trump can't pot this one. Right,

hint it as hard as you can. There you go! Go on red, get in somewhere.

That was a magnificent effort from Judd Trump and that break of 72 gets

him into the lead. It is 4-3 to Judd Trump.

STUDIO: Into the lead for the first time. That plant, which Barry

perhaps didn't see. No, and that is why you see players always walk

around the table before they play a shot. Just to make sure there wasn't

a plant on or the balls couldn't be made into a plant. It is only when

he played the safety shot, he has a look and realises the plant is on.

It cost him the frame. That's why you should always come around the

other side of the table just to make sure. And he made a face like that

earlier on. Schoolboy error. As Willie Thorne would say, that was

careless. There had been a face like that from Barry earlier on.

Yesterday there were six frames 1 to 0 and we saw that in the match

between Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan. You have to be so

careful off the break these days Not so much the best of 11 but in the

best of seven, which a lot of matches are these days, it used to

be the case, yeah, I'll break, but now all of a sudden you would prefer

three break-offs than have to do the four. It is a safety shot that's

unlikely to put your opponent into trouble but can cause you problems.

Especially the long balls Judd Trump was demonstrating. We saw in one of

the frames there, Barry Hawkins's break, he was disappointed because

he couldn't get the cue ball behind the green. He grimaced because he

couldn't get it and Judd Trump obliged. Sometimes when players win

the toss they let the opponent break. At the beginning of the match

you don't want to know how the cloth is going to react. Judd Trump is

ahead. It is 4-3. Will he kick on from here? Let's find out.

Remember, back in the '70s when Pot. In black was going, just one frame.

If you won the toss you didn't want to break off because you were so

nervous. Didn't to break off because you were so

nervous. -- when Pot black was going. With standards the way they

are, it is never more important. It is partly because of the cloth. The

cushion slides so much with the cloth being shaved, it is difficult

to widen the angle and get the cue ball down behind the ball sometimes.

This is a very big frame for Barry Hawkins. First time he's gone behind

in the match. APPLAUSE. That shot shows you how

fast this table is. Hardly touched that and look where the cue ball's

finished up. This is a tricky little shot to get on the red and pot the

brown. He's playing to drop it in and... It's gone wrong. It was a

delicate little cannon that was need there had. Elicate

delicate little cannon that was need there had. -- that was needed there.

I think he thought he was going hit the red on the way across the table

there. Talking about the cloth, I was in pretty early this morning and

the auditorium was empty. The table fitter was brushing the table down,

ironing it. He said come and have a feel of the nap. It was like a sheet

of glass. There's virtually no nap on it. If you haven't got a good

strike on the cue ball, the cue ball flies all over the place with a bit

of side, and it won't be coming back, so you do have to hit it

properly. The clothe goes through a process of being shaved two or three

times to get it down to that specific length. Like the greens at

Augusta. Where is the red going? He almost

fluked it but he got it straight away. He might have got away with

this. He might not be able to see the potting angle here. It is just

away from the pink, so he is just OK. Judd got up straight away when

he played this shot. Now, watch Judd's reaction here.

Straight away he knew he hadn't made the correct contact. Don't think he

got a kick did he? No, he put a little bit of side on that and bit

into the cue ball and straightened it up. It is one of those you needed

a little bit of left-hand side to come round the angles. A little

touch of side on it to straighton ball up. Oh.

he didn't cue that very well. So both players are starting to feel

the pressure out there. Neither of these boys has ever been to the

final of the Masters, so it is a big day for them.

APPLAUSE. A big pot, that was. Lots of pressure on it. When you practise

you fancy knocking it in, but this isn't practise. He cued that

beautifully. While Judd got helped in the third frame with Barry

missing a relatively simple shot, Judd's just helped Barry Hawkins

out. He must have been thinking in the chair there, I could be going

5-3 down. That was a very poor miss from Judd.

Just a little bit of movement. Sometimes he does move, Judd, but

you heard Shaun Murphy had a chat about the players, he was expressing

how Judd just moves a little bit with his body on the shot.

Of course, Shaun Murphy was defending champion here. Mark Allen

played very well to knock Sean out 6-4. I know Sean's an avid snooker

fan. He'll be watching all the snooker. Yes, I can tell you

something else, he won't be missing the reds three times on the trot

again. He did it in that match. First time ever at the Masters and

for fitted the frame. To mark Allen. We've had magnificent snooker here

but both players have missed a couple of siters.

but both players have missed a under tremendous pressure going for

the first ever Masters final. This is a lovely opportunity, a series of

stuns and screws around the pink. No need to even contemplate the black

the way these are positioned. 27 point lead at the moment and more to

come. Didn't play the last shot particularly well. Needed to leave

an angle to stun over the two reds. He didn't want to leave the cue ball

there. Should have been more over to the right.

This is a very big frame, obviously, in the context of the match, but if

Barry Hawkins doesn't win it from here, he'll absolutely kick himself.

This is a brilliant chance. This red and colour should see him

over the line in this frame. It's anybody's game at the moment.

I mentioned it had 6-5 written all over it. The last time they played

here, in 2015, Judd won 6-5. That was in the first round on that

occasion. I can tell you two other people who

would love a 6-5, Dennis, O'Sullivan and Stuart Bingham.

APPLAUSE. Might have to play another double if he hasn't got an angle to

get over to the last red. He has a bit of angle here. Come on, knock

this in, Barry, and give us another century. It is a tough one though.

No, doesn't really matter that that's not going in at the moment.

It is one mistake that's cost him the game. That was a magnificent

break of 78 from Barry Hawkins. He is all square at four frames all.

Fantastic quality. It is now down to best of three. This is what we love

isn't it? Tough at the top. The standard seems to be ever increasing

the World Snooker, as you would expect from the Masters. Going back

to the '80s a few games might have been scrappier. But it seems with

all the competition the players are getting it is dragging the standard

up, in my opinion. Not necessarily in every analyst's opinion. Steven

played a different game really. Ken, this performance from Barry Hawkins,

having let him off the hook largely in the first part of this match,

where do you think that puts him, in terms of 4-4, could he have suffered

a crisis of confidence when Judd was coming back at him? It looked that

way, because he gave Judd a couple of chances. All of a sudden Judd was

like a Rab it in the head lines of the. Judd

like a Rab it in the head lines of the. -- like a rabbit in the

headlights. He led his opponent back. As it gets closer you will see

a few more misses. They are trying to get into their first Masters

final. Best of three to get into a Masters final. What do you draw upon

from your previous matches, from your career, your history as you go

into this situation. All you do is play and hope. You don't think? You

just got play the balls. There is the possibility that Judd's

suffering a bit being more the favourite in this match than he was

the last. And he may have to call upon a few big shots down the line

to get over the line. But Barry Hawkins is not out of it. Back we

go. Hazel was absolutely right. She

knows this game inside out. He did go for it. He didn't manage to pull

it off and it is a half chance here for Barry. It is not an easy starter

for him. But if he can slot this one in, it will be an early chance for

him. Might just choose to play this a little bit like a shot to nothing

where maybe the black will cover the pocket if he didn't get it. But he

played it full-bloodedly. Well done. It is one of those shots you could

play it two ways there. That was the aggressive way. No thought about

missing it. First chance, Barry Hawkins, in

frame 9. You can see his intense there to get

on the pink in such a way that he can pot it and go into the reds.

Has to be played with top spin here. You can see him striking the cue

ball up near the top. I was going say he was unlucky, but maybe the

one next to the cue ball might have a slight angle to pot it and get on

to the black. It is a bit close to it though. Makes it slightly more

difficult. The way Barry's looking at it I

don't think there's too much doubt he's going to take it on.

Got to be careful with your cueing. The balls are close together. Well

played. APPLAUSE.

If the pink goes into the corner it wouldn't be a bad ball to play on to

bring reds into play. Dennis, I'm surprised he hasn't had a little

look around there. I agree with you there, if he could have played a

stun-out and come out on the pink and left it high he key have potted

that and certainly opened the reds out. It is a bit more difficult off

the black. Will he do it this time? He's coming

round to look at the pink now. Yes, that's definitely the shot that will

open the game up. Decided to play and leave it on the

low side, so he's going to play the little cannon, three reds into the

left of the pink. Has to be careful when he plays this, because coming

near the pink spot... Couldn't have done enter better.

APPLAUSE. Good call, Dennis. You picked the shot out.

It's happened a few times where Judd took a difficult long pot on, which

he's always going to do anyway, but he's being punished for that one

mistake. Barry's won a few frames with just the one chance. Certainly

the two opening frames. 130, 128. Then a 74 to go back in the lead.

78, and the last, great stuff. Yes, and that straight red miss in the

last frame from Judd, that's proven to be costly. Cost him the last game

but thrown the momentum back to Barry Hawkins, who looks like he is

cueing in the opening two frames again.

Here's the red. Could play all day and he wouldn't miss that in a club,

but it is proving at the moment to be costly.

This is how Barry played when he got to the final of the world

championships a few seasons ago. Cueing superbly well. And it took

Ronnie O'Sullivan to beat him in the final, put up a good

Ronnie O'Sullivan to beat him in the there. Very daunting coming out of

the Crucible for your first final and you've got arguably the best

player who has ever lived in the next chair. He acquitted himself

very well in that. APPLAUSE. Not far from the winning

line in this frame. A couple more pots will be enough.

68 ahead. And there's a few more to come here, it has to be said.

APPLAUSE. Judd's going to have to go to the well and drag up

concentration and focus and all his ability. There'll be two frames he

needs to win and he has to find it from somewhere. Played brilliantly

yesterday. As good as I've seen him play, but he's going to have to do

the same in the last two frames, as Barry Hawkins looks like he's back

in stroke. This really is a bit special from

Barry Hawkins. Has to be able to produce this standard on one of the

biggest stages in World Snooker when it means so much to you. He's a big

biggest stages in World Snooker when feather in his cap. This really is

excellent stuff. And this red just for his third century in this match

alone. APPLAUSE. Fabulous from Barry

Hawkins! That's the 24th century in this year's Masters. He sacrificed

the position and made sure of the century, but doesn't matter whether

he pots the black or not. He would like to.

And has he got the cannon also? The cue ball is in the middle pocket,

but it doesn't really matter. Again, Barry Hawkins with that century and

he now leads 5-4, just one frame away from a place in the final.

Well, the standard here, John, has been superb. Judd Trump, all he is

doing in a few of the frames is having a go at that long first part,

he knocks a high percentage in, but against Barry, he knows that if he

misses one of these, he can lose the frame. This is his game, he is

always taking them on and I don't blame him in the slightest. He

usually knocks them in but he did that and left that situation and I

thought Barry Hawkins' opening red was a cracker. On these tournament

tables along the top cushion, they are not easy and he played it

correctly, no thought about I might miss this, this is the red he drops

in, I really admire him for that. He has had 130, 128, 74, 78 and another

century there, it is an incredible standard he has produced in his

first semifinal at the Masters. And the question is, what has Judd Trump

got left? Has he got enough petrol in the tank to turn this around and

win the final two frames to get into the final. He was asked plenty of

questions yesterday by Neil Robertson, this is the biggest

question to answer now. Philae Judd get a frame can under

way. -- Judd gets frame ten under way. He will be hoping it is not his

last one. I know this Ally Pally crowd would like to see the deciding

frame. It is a fantastic arena, Barry, that will have other ideas --

but Barry will have other ideas. The cue ball is close to the corner

pocket. He hit that safety much too thin but he was never really going

to leave anything. Much too thick on his safety, he

will be delighted the blue has come to his rescue. If the red was

sticking out, he would definitely be taking it on. The chance for Barry

to play a good safety but you have to be careful not to knock a red

over the corner. I think he has got away with it

slightly, this is not an easy red that Barry is faced with. If the

black was available, he might be able to take it on but he would have

to punch this in and get up for the blue.

You can see he is going to attempt that shot, just cueing below centre

to see where he could leave himself on the blue. The harder he hits it,

the less chance he has of knocking it in. The way he lined it tells me

there is not much angle in this. These tight pockets, as soon as you

try to force them... It is an easy starter for Judd, but

the paint is out of commission, the black is tied up. He has to screw

back for the blue. -- the pink. Not a bad effort from that position.

And he heated with the rest, that is excellent. We talk about his cue

power generally but to get that there, fabulous.

Just needs the cue ball to bounce up a touch.

That has knocked the black safe. It was in an awkward position anyway.

But he will have to call on all of his cue power here to screw back.

Just got a little bit of angle but it is far from being an easy chance.

Just had a look to see that if he stuns, he will leave a little cannon

on the reds to the left of the pink. I think your shot is a good call,

this could open things up somewhat. He has decided to go through for the

bloom again. But I think the pink might now be in the open -- for the

blue again. If it goes into the right corner, he will have blue and

pink to go out. -- go at. I don't think the pink is on its

spot. If he potted it, I don't think it would go back on the spot, but he

has the blue to work with for the time being. He might only be on 28

points after this, but it has been an excellent break so far, it was

far from straightforward when he came to the table. He is just

scrapping for position in this break, he has been slightly off in

the last three or four shots. Once again, the cue ball is too low,

so he has to go in and out of the baulk area.

How is your luck, Judd? Doesn't look very good.

It was very, very difficult. The previous shot, he couldn't get the

correct side of the blue. If he had screwed back any harder, he would

have screwed into the middle pocket. He has a nice 34 point advantage.

Yes, I said he was scrapping for position and

Yes, I said he was scrapping for up with him. He is unfortunate to

finish where he has done, but when you have a bit of doubt about

whether cue ball will finish, that can happen. He can come of the red

near the middle pocket and leave the white up fairly safe.

A straightforward safety shot but he thought he could maybe just sneak

that red into the middle pocket. Yes, I think he also played that on

the understanding that even if he left the cue ball fair, what was

Barry going to do off it if he left the cue ball fair, what was

the red that is out in the open? -- left the cue ball fair, what was

if he pots. So quite a cute shot by Judd.

What I pot. Fantastic -- what a pot. Brilliant.

Nothing wrong with that, tucking your opponent away.

Nothing wrong with that, tucking you get out of this one? He has

tucked him in tight behind the yellow, he has to get around to the

reds by the black spot area because there is nothing near the cushions

to land on, so he has got quite a problem here. If he can swerve

around the yellow, he could maybe get to the... But he is so close to

the yellow, it is not going to be easy to do that.

Because he is so close to the yellow, he can't play that escape

shot. If he was slightly away, he could maybe get there. He would have

to really swerve around to make that angle. He is thinking about it.

If he goes there, he has got an awful long time to travel to get to

those two reds. But that is what he is trying, he doesn't want to hit

the red on the right side of the table.

This is a pretty good effort. It is a brilliant effort. He has got to

those two reds. Fantastic. What an escape he has played there,

terrific. Another clever little shocked by

Judd if he gets past the brand... He took the chance there, because he

just chipped the red onto the side cushion. -- gets past the brown. He

thought it was well worth the risk, sticking the red safe. Didn't quite

get the cue ball right, though. Where is the cue ball going if he

pots this? Can he find a gap? Well, the black was out of

commission! What a shot. I think he was playing the gap, it

was a bonus to knock the black over the pocket, but he will take it.

Now, then... What a chance for Barry Hawkins. Yes. And the red that is on

the left hand side cushion that Judd Trump stuck there with the last

shot, OK, it wasn't the best safety shot in respect of the cue ball, but

will that red come to his rescue? There is a lot of snooker to be

played before then, and the amount of pressure these boys are under, we

always think they are going to clear up without thinking about the

circumstances, they are that good, but the chance to reach his first

Masters final here and he will be under the cosh, don't worry about

that. He has had five attempts and never

got past the first round, but he has made up for all of those defeats,

the way he has played this year. He does strike the ball beautifully,

Barry Hawkins. Lovely to watch. Great rhythm around the table. If he

can just stun up onto the pink here, once he pot that, he should be on

the bottom red -- pots. Do both of those red pot? He may

take the chance to try and develop the difficult read. -- red. He has

just missed it, that could have been a matchwinner, had he got the cannon

correctly. And not only did he just missed the

-- just missed the red, this has gone awkward. It could have been one

where he missed it and still ended up on the green or the brown Ouray

baulk colour, but it is not easy for a pot.

He can get in behind the black, I think, if he judges it. They are

tough, they are not easy. In fact, he might even be able to see enough

of this red near the pink spot to cut it in, but that last shot he

tried is so difficult to judge. But don't be surprised if this

doesn't going... -- go in... Fabiola Sharp and he has got a bit of angle

on the brown. If anyone can get to the last round, it is Judd --

fabulous shot. Can he missed the green and screw back? I don't know,

but now he is thinking, why did I put that red safe? Funny the way the

frame works out. If he can muster up a positional shot to free the red,

why not go in behind the brown and leave him in a very difficult

snooker? But if there is half a chance he can get to the red, he

will take it. He may have to play a banana type shot, when he screws it

back, but now he is looking at going in behind the brown, which wouldn't

be a bad choice. I like the shot. I don't think that is the best way of

playing it, cutting off the top cushion.

Gives him the opportunity to drop on this dead weight.

UMPIRE: Foul and MS. -- and a miss. He won't mind a couple of penalty

shots, but I am with you. It could have been an absolute stinker to get

out if he blocks the line off, but he will just keep playing the same

shot. If he hits it harder than he intends to, he could push it over

the middle pocket. APPLAUSE.

Well, it is a containing shot, but he could be in behind the pink here.

Barry made sure he played cushion first.

We haven't had many close frames in this match, it has been about heavy

duty scoring, but we have It is great to see the big breaks

and that, but a lot of people enjoy this just as much. It is much more

tense when the frame is like this. His main concern here is to try and

get that red ball safe. Well he knocked a similar part in

the other way around, but this time the red is on the brown spot. -- a

similar pot. How close was that? He needs the cue ball to get tied on

the cushion to make it awkward for Barry. -- gets tight.

He would be looking for it to be bowled straight.

Still a tough pot. False but was far from easy and throw in the

circumstances, that must've looked like the size of a football. Look at

the expression on Barry's phase. -- face.

Judd's parents there and they will be so tense. It is worse sometimes

watching. That is one of Judd's good friends there next to his parents.

Yes, follows him to all his tournaments, his biggest fan. It is

terrible watching. Will he risk swinging this around the angles to

try and get in behind the green and black, which are in a good position.

He has hit it far too thin. He has made a bad mistake there. But the

blue has gone into an awkward position, but that was a good

chance. A good chance to play a snooker and he hit it far too thin.

As you say, just too thin to make it round there. Ordinarily, it would be

read that would be food drink to Barry Hawkins, but this is not

ordinarily, and I am not sure the blue has gone safe.

He is already looking at the blue, not for this shot, but he will need

that and if he can get in behind... I am looking at it and it is a

perfect angle. The green is going to go past the brown. He could drop the

blue in. He would have a straight shot at the yellow, even though he

would be a little closer to the cushion.

I was just thinking for later, blue to think, it will be more awkward,

but he will come to that when he gets to it -- blue to pink. When he

pots the yellow, it will be all square.

So he will need the pink and even if he gets onto the blue, I don't think

he can do much with it to get close to the pink, so there is a little

bit of tension left in this frame. Yes, this is the big shot. If he can

get this in and get the correct angle on the blue, just to give

himself a little chance of pushing through it and getting closer... But

as I say, the way he is cueing it, it is not great. He can't do much

with the blue, he can only drop it in and it will lead a very difficult

pink. -- it'll leave. That is why he has tried to move it

slightly. He is pretty close to the blue. It will go into the left

corner, but what a shock to judge. UMPIRE: Settle down, please. This is

so awkward. It is there. And he is perfect on

unbelievable shot. Judd Trump thought he had a lifeline there, but

what are shot that Barry Hawkins pulled off. Unbelievable match, and

that is what it means to Barry Hawkins. He has made three century

breaks and it is nice to see the two boys having a chat. He gets revenge

for a couple of years ago and he is a very popular winner, Barry Hawkins

speeds Judd Trump 6-4, great match, boys.

HAZEL IRVINE: Well, and exceptional performance from Barry Hawkins.

Remember, he came here this year to the Masters, he had never won a

match here but he is in the final, extraordinary stop and that turned

into a battle on the final red, but that blue was one of the best shots

we have seen this week. STEVE DAVIS: He took a chance to

move the blue out, he was close to it and we talked about whether he

could move it out but it was a judgment shot, wasn't it? And when

they are that close, it is so difficult but he couldn't have

played it better. And from 4-3 behind, to win the last three frames

against a man who showed so much form yesterday, what more did we

learn about Barry Hawkins today? He came out yesterday full of vigour

for the match, three centuries yesterday, fantastic. Perhaps as the

underdog, it helped him that Judd had played so well and all eyes were

on him. Judd wasn't as good today but was still playing good start, it