Judd Trump was the Grove’s last representative in the last 32 at Shanghai, but sadly will be on the next plane home after losing 3-5 to Stephen Maguire. Judd was on good potting form, making breaks of 135 in the second frame as well as 88 and 102 later in the match, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Stephen.

Judd and Liu Song will next take part in the World Open finals from 18 September in Glasgow, while all of the Grove’s players are now looking forward to their next event, the Brugge Open (EPTC2) in Bruges, Belgium from 30 September.

JUDD TRUMP took his first ranking title with a 4-3 victory over Anthony Hamilton in the Paul Hunter Classic, late on Sunday night.

Judd has been in good form this season having won the pro-am Austrian Open a few weeks ago, and went through the weekend beating all players before him. Judd’s first four wins were against Andrew Pagett 4-0, ex-world champion Peter Ebdon 4-2, Michael Judge 4-0 and Anthony McGill 4-2.

He then met his good friend and fellow Grove player Jack Lisowski in the last eight. Jack, finalist in the recent PTC3 event where he beat Mark Selby, also had a good run in beating another top 16 player, Marco Fu 4-3, as well Adrian Gunnell 4-1, Robbie Williams 4-1 and world no 20 Ricky Walden 4-0.

Judd won the quarter final 4-0 and then went on to beat Shaun Murphy 4-2 in the semi-final before beating Anthony and taking the top prize of €10,000.

Matthew Selt lost 4-1 in his first round match to David Norris and Liu Chuang lost at the same stage 4-0 to Stephen Hendry. Liu Song had a convincing victory in round one, beating Joe Jogia 4-0 before losing a tight second round match to Stuart Bingham 4-3.

Zhang Anda lost another narrow match in the first round, losing 4-3 to Marco Fu. Amateur player Chen Zhe made it through to the second round after a good win against Ben Woollaston 4-1, but then lost by the same score to Andrew Pagett in round two.

After a quiet start to his first professional season, it was a fantastic weekend for the Grove’s Jack Lisowski who returned to his winning ways. Jack won six consecutive matches, starting out in the first round with a 4-2 win against Jimmy Michie which showed a glimpse of the form to come with breaks of 87, 70 and 75 for Jack.

He followed this up with a 4-0 win against Ben Woolaston and a 4-3 win over Stuart Carrington, hitting three more 50+ breaks in each match. In the fourth round Jack’s next opponent was fellow Grove player Matthew Selt, Jack overcoming this 4-2 and then beating Ian McCulloch 4-1 with three more 50+ breaks to reach the last four.

Jack’s next opponent was the current UK form player Mark Selby, but amazingly Jack held his nerve to edge Mark 4-3, being 1-3 down but making breaks of 58, 62 and 76 to take the last three frames and victory.

Sadly for Jack was not able to repeat his excellent performances in the final, losing 0-4 to Tom Ford. However Jack was very pleased with the weekend’s work. He said, “it’s obviously very disappointing to lose in the final but I am very pleased to have played so well, and I hope this tournament gives me a boost for the rest of the season”.

It was a good weekend for other Grove players too. Judd Trump reached the last 16, losing a close match 3-4 to Mark Selby. Judd had beaten Michael Holt 4-1, Mitchell Travis 4-2 and Michael White 4-3 to reach the fourth round. Matthew Selt also reached the same position before losing to Jack – Matt saw off Chris Norbury 4-1, James Wattana 4-2 and Joe Perry 4-3 to reach that round.

Liu Chuang started with a win against Robert Valiant 4-3 but then lost in the second round 2-4 to Michael White. Liu Song lost his first round match to Kyren Wilson 2-4, Zhang Anda was defeated at the same stage by Adrian Gunnell 3-4 and Chen Zhe lost in the first round as well to Rory McLeod 1-4. Zhe had come through two rounds of pre-qualifying, beating Oliver Wilson 4-1 and Raymond Fry 4-2.

Six Grove players were in action for qualifying for the first major ranking tournament of the year, the Shanghai Masters.

Liu Song found himself in the draw at the expense of John Higgins, and took advantage by winning his first match against Ben Woollaston 5-3, including breaks of 91 and 84. Song was unable to keep this up however and went out in the next round 3-5 to James Wattana.

Liu Chuang was always going to find his first match tough against Michael White after Michael made breaks of 100 and 101 to take the first two frames. Chuang did rally with an excellent break of 111 in the fourth frame but could not keep this up, losing 2-5.

Jack Lisowski lost 3-5 to James McBain in round one and Matthew Selt, starting in round two, lost a very close match 4-5 to Alfie Burden.

Zhang Anda brought back echoes of his excellent run at the World Championships, reaching the last qualifying round after beating Jak Jones 5-4, Paul Davies 5-1 and Stuart Pettman 5-3. However it wasn’t to be a first “home” final for Anda and he lost in the last 48 2-5 to Matthew Stevens.

It was left for Judd Trump to fly the Grove flag in Shanghai this year. Judd knocked in breaks of 111, 76, 66 and 54 to beat Tom Ford 5-1 in the final qualifying round, to take his place in the last 32 where he will meet Stephen Maguire. The final stages take place in Shanghai on 6-12 September.

Thursday

Chen Zhe was once again the first Grove player to take part, in the amateur qualifying round, and made a winning start, beating Shahrukh Nasir by 4 frames to 2. Zhe made breaks of 41 and 40 to go 2-0 and finished with a 75 in the decisive frame.

Friday

Liu Song started his tournament with a 4-0 victory against London youngster Danny Douane but then had a tricky second round match against world no 28 Gerard Greene who came out on top 4-1.

Saturday

Chen Zhe’s first round opponent was Nick Jennings who won the tie 4-1, although Zhe did manage to get a break of 92 in the second frame.

Two Grove players – Matthew Selt and Zhang Anda – met in the first round, with Matthew winning 4-0. However Matthew was unfortunate in the second round losing 4-1 to Kuldesh Johal.

Main Tour debutant Jack Lisowski had a very tricky first round tie, being drawn against world no 23 Stephen Lee, and was edged out 4-3 depsite making a break of 97 in the fourth frame.

Judd Trump made it through to the last 32 after beating David Gilbert and World No 19 Joe Perry but was defeated on Saturday evening by Liam Highfield 4-2 in the third round. Judd did set the highest break of the tournament so far against Joe Perry, with a superb 144.

The final Grove player taking part was U-21 Asian Champion Liu Chuang. Chuang beat Reanne Evans 4-2 in the first round; Reanne was taking part in her first professional match and there was additional media attention for both players. Chuang then beat Ben Harrison 4-0 before being unlucky enough to meet Mark Selby, who was on fire that day, overcoming Chuang 4-0 with breaks of 127, 111, 59 and 55.

The Global Snooker website have also written a feature about Jack and you can see it by clicking here.

Jack is the winner of the 2009/10 PIOS and is also the new English Amatuer Champion and we’re hoping that his good form continues.

Questions and Answers with Jack:

When did you start playing snooker?

I was 7 when I got my first table, but I probably started playing when I was 5. I didn’t have a table then, I would lie on the floor hitting golf balls and ping pong balls with a pool cue.

I was fascinated by watching snooker on television and I particularly remember one match between Mark Williams and Ken Doherty which got me hooked on the game.

I wanted to join a snooker club and my dad said I could, on condition that I read Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl. I don’t know if that was because he thought it would help my snooker or whether he just wanted me to finish my reading first! I then joined Westgate Snooker Club in Gloucester, at the age of 8.

Did this give you a taste for competition at an early age?

Yes it did. I started to play in the handicap competition every Saturday and I won it soon after I joined – it was a big deal for me, I had become the youngest winner ever. I started to receive coaching from Nick Pearce, a former professional, and he gave me a lot of encouragement to carry on and try and improve my game. I continued to improve and I made my first 100 break at the age of 10, while playing Nick.

What was your best early success?

The first big tournament I went in was the Pontins Star Of The Future tournament in 2002 and I won, beating Michael White in the final 2-1, winning the deciding frame on the black ball. In the same month I won the English Under-13 title, beating Liam Highfield in the final.

When I was 13 I took apart in the European Under-19 tournament in Riga, Latvia. I lost in the quarter-final.

How did your improving snooker affect your schooling?

At the age of 16 I passed 9 GCSEs but I decided to leave school at this point and concentrate on my goal of becoming a professional player. However it was around this time that I became ill – I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This led me to take a year out from snooker (and life in general!) The following year I was well enough to start playing again and rejoined the PIOS tour. I reached the final of the second event I played, which was a big achievement for me to have improved so much after taking so much time away from competitive playing. It gave me a lot of confidence for the following season – 2009/10.

Do you feel you came back from your break a better player and stronger person?

Yes I did. I played in all eight events in the 2009/10 PIOS tour and I won 2 events – the first and last ones. I also reached 2 semi-finals and I ended up with the highest points total in the five-year history of the competition. At the end of the 2009/10 I also won the English Amateur Championship.

What is your highest break?

My highest break in practice is 147 which I have half a dozen times. The most recent was while playing Ding Junhui in Sheffield, while breaking in a new cue.

In competition my highest break is 143 which I achieved during an English U-21 ranking tournament in 2009.

Are you enjoying life away from home?

I’m currently sharing a house with Judd Trump. We’re good friends, as Judd comes from Bristol and I’ve seen almost every weekend for years at one junior tournament or other, as he’s just a couple of years older than me.

I’m now living and practising in Romford and I have to admit I prefer it to Sheffield. There’s a definite buzz being nearer to London and Romford is a vibrant town. I hope the change of scenery will help me have an explosive start to my professional career!

Neil became the first Australian to win the title by beating 2006 winner Graeme Dott in the final, and rises to an all-time high of number 2 in the World Rankings.

Sean has had another great season which ended with Sean reaching the final 8 of Riley’s Search For A Star competition.