Judd Trump unhappy with form despite easing past Hossein Vafaei at Crucible

Judd Trump vowed his best is yet to come despite cruising into the second round of the World Snooker Championship with a 10-4 win over Hossein Vafaei.

The emphatic nature of the scoreline belied a patchy performance by the 2019 champion, who arrived at the Crucible on the back of a relatively low-key campaign that has yielded a solitary ranking title. But the 32-year-old said he is unconcerned by his slow start to the tournament and believes he is capable of stepping up a level when he faces Anthony McGill, a former semi-finalist, in the second round next week.

“I never play well in the first round here, but normally something clicks as the tournament goes on,” said Trump. “There were just too many easy mistakes and I don’t feel that comfortable playing out there. I just don’t feel like I’m going to clear up every time – that mentality’s not there.

“But the matches are so long here that anything can change. It gives me the chance to not play well one day, and the next match I’ll play my absolute best. It’s hard for me to play well every single time.”

Trump had laboured into a 6-3 overnight lead, but he effectively sealed his place in the last 16 by taking the first two frames of their Thursday session. Trump showed his problems were not entirely over when he missed a simple blue off the spot, giving Vafaei the chance to polish off his first Crucible century with an impressive 121 clearance. But it was Vafaei’s turn to miss a simple colour in the next, Trump getting the better of a lengthy safety exchange to go 9-4 up before Trump went on to complete the second-round line-up.

(1, Eng) Mark Selby v Yan Bingtao (16, Chn)Jackson Page (Wal) 1-7* Mark Williams (8, Wal)(5, Eng) Kyren Wilson v Stuart Bingham (12, Eng)(13, Sco)