Judd Trump secured a £100,000 payout by making his 100th century break of the season in his second match at the World Snooker Championship. The man from Bristol reeled off three-figure breaks in successive frames during his meeting with Shaun Murphy on Sunday night. It saw him land the six-figure sum laid on for any player who makes a century of centuries in a single campaign.

As he approached the decisive milestone, Trump stopped and smiled before composing himself and returning to the table. He nailed a simple black into the corner to get over the line, earning a huge cheer from the Crucible crowd. The 35-year-old reacted with a fist pump before turning to the audience and basking in his glory as Murphy joined in with the applause.

Former world champion John Parrott was commentating for the BBC and said: “Well done Judd Trump. That is some achievement. Snooker from the gods. You can’t play better than this. The past two frames have been of the highest order.”

Stephen Hendry, meanwhile, added: “Everybody knew about it and what was going on. He’ll be so glad it’s done. He’s world number one so he can do it, but he’s now got to switch off and switch on to win this last frame. That’s what the best players do.

“He’s got to refocus when he comes back into the arena, win this last frame of the session and get a four-frame lead going into tomorrow.”

It marked only the third time that a player had passed the 100-century milestone in the space of one season. Trump previously did so in the 2019/20 campaign, when he landed 102 centuries, while Neil Robertson managed a whopping 103 in 2013/14.

Trump will be hoping to follow up his momentous achievement by winning the World Snooker Championship for the second time in his career. He has not tasted Crucible glory since his only triumph at the famous Sheffield venue back in 2019.

Ahead of his match against Murphy, Trump explained that he wanted to regain the biggest title in snooker to avoid going down as this year’s forgotten man.

“Because it is the last tournament of the season and anyone not involved with snooker is tuning into the World Championship, they only really remember this tournament and the rest kind of gets forgotten a little bit,” he said.

“I’ve had a great season, but you kind of get forgotten about if you don’t win this tournament, so it adds that pressure on. I have a good chance if I keep doing what I’m doing.”

No. Well, it doesn’t seem like it…

Earlier this year, the former Liverpool manager insisted that he would only return to Anfield if the title were wrapped up.

Klopp shared that he planned to be in attendance for the Reds’ final game of the season against Crystal Palace.

And, of course, he will be present for the celebrations…

“Yes, the plan is [to be there for the celebrations] but not on the bus,” Klopp said during a fundraising event in Cape Town. “I will be there where the people are. That’s the idea, but we will see.”

He added: “I will be there for the last game. I didn’t want to go earlier, to be honest, because I didn’t want to jinx it!

“They win all the time, and I’m the first time in the stadium and they lose! So, I’ll go there when it’s decided.”

Steve Davis lauded Luca Brecel after the Belgian produced a scintillating session of snooker at the World Championship on Saturday. Brecel dominated Ding Junhui in the early stages of their second round showdown as he ended the evening with a 7-1 advantage.

Ding began the match with a mesmerising break of 141 to take the lead but was forced to sit back and watch Brecel find his top form from thereon in. Brecel hit breaks of 121, 78, 55, 100 and 88 to win seven frames on the bounce as he put himself well and truly in the driving seat to reach the quarter-finals.

Brecel struck a remarkable shot to pot the black and break up the red balls in the final frame of the evening as he demonstrated his prodigious talents with the cue.

And BBC commentator Steve Davis, who won the World Snooker Championship six times, said: “What an effort that was, I can’t tell you how hard that is to do.”

The 67-year-old then made a massive comment about Brecel’s performance as he exclaimed: “We’ve witnessed the most amazing exhibition of snooker, in one session, I think I’ve ever seen at the Crucible.”

He added: “Not in an exhibition match, the World Championship. He’s done this to one of the greatest players that’s ever held a cue, Ding Junhui. Totally taken the thunder from that first frame. Incredible stuff.”

John Virgo, who was also in the commentary box, was taken aback by Brecel’s performance as well as he purred: “Literally just blown him away.”

After Brecel had closed out the final frame of the evening, Virgo added: “Scintillating, superb, any superlative you want to use, it might just not be enough to describe this performance.”

Davis then called for a standing ovation at the end of the session, which the crowd duly delivered.

Brecel tasted victory at the World Snooker Championship in 2023 after getting the better of Mark Selby in the final.

The 30-year-old has struggled for form in recent years, however, and has spent long periods of time training for Ironman triathlons.

He has hit the headlines in recent times due to his reluctance to book hotel stays during some tournaments in favour of flying to snooker locations on the day of matches. And on Saturday he arrived in Sheffield just hours before his Crucible showdown with Ding was due to get underway after taking a private jet from Belgium in the afternoon.