Judd Trump holds off Mark Williams fightback to book place in snooker world final

Judd Trump withstood a stirring comeback from Mark Williams to win a thrilling final frame decider and reach the snooker World Championship final for the third time.

Trump saw a 12-5 lead evaporate as the Welshman clawed his way back to lead 16-15 and threaten what would have been the greatest semi-final recovery in Crucible history.

But having gone behind for the first time, Trump hauled back level then produced two outrageous cross-doubles to nudge over the line in a tension-filled decider and seal a 17-16 win.

Trump had taken the first frame of the final session with a cool clearance of 64 to temporarily blunt Williams’ momentum and re-establish his three frame advantage at 14-11.

And Trump was unlucky not to extend his advantage in the next after kicking the pink into the path of the yellow after potting the last red, the Welshman wresting back the initiative with a brilliant clearance to pink.

Both players missed chances in the next, which Williams won to move within one frame of his opponent for the first time since the opening frame of the match, and a nerveless 137 clearance saw him tie at 14-14 at the mid-session interval.

At that point Williams had won nine of the last 11 frames but Trump once again proved undaunted, wiping up a messy 29th minute in which both players missed good early chances, to move within two of victory.

Williams responded with a 138, his fourth century of the match that took his tally for the tournament to 16, equalling the single-year record set by Stephen Hendry in 2002.

The Welshman proceeded to take the lead for the first time after winning a titanic 31st frame, in which Trump chiselled back a 33-point deficit only for Williams to pull off a series of stupendous pots on the colours to