Judd wins the inaugural European Masters in Bucharest
Judd beat Ronnie O’Sullivan by 9-8 to win the inaugural European Masters 2016 in Bucharest, on the day of 10th anniversary of the passing of the much moved Paul Hunter. It’s Judd’s 6th ranking title. It was a thrilling final. Judd trailed for most of the match, despite being the better player all along; he had 3 centuries. But Ronnie used all his experience, battling qualities and break-building skills to counter Judd’s extraordinary long potting and scoring powers. So it did come to a decider, much to the delight of the Romanian crowd.
The tournament was held in Globul Circus in Bucharest, Romania, from 3 to 9 October 2016.
If featured 34 players, the first two rounds having been played in Preston the week before, except for two held-over matches. At the sponsors request, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby’s last 64 were played at the venue on the first day.
En route to the title Judd had also beaten two other multiple Champions: he whitewashed John Higgins in the QF, and saw off the reigning World Champion and World n°1 Mark Selby in the SF by 6-2. It doesn’t come harder than this. This brings him as high as third in the rankings.
Judd played a fantastic decider, watch it here:
You can read the full match report on Worldsnooker here.
Judd said:
“I’m a little bit in disbelief,” said Trump. “To go 8-6 down was a little bit disheartening. I was faced with a difficult blue in the next frame and I just thought that I have to go for it. After that, I didn’t miss in the next three frames. To produce that under pressure against Ronnie will stand me in good stead for the rest of the season.
“It’s nice to win this tournament and get my confidence back. I’m using a new cue and probably should have beaten Michael White in China. I was a little bit disheartened. I said to my manager that I want to change my cue again, but he told me to stick with it. Luckily I did.”
Neil reached the semi finals, were he lost by 6-0 to a rampant Ronnie O’ Sullivan.
Luca lost in the last 32 to Scott Donaldson.
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