Judd Trump is out of the World Snooker Championship after an all-time shock victory for underdog Jak Jones at the Crucible.
Jones entered the tournament as the 44th seed, while Trump sad comfortably alongside Ronnie O'Sullivan as co-favourites to take home the crown come this weekend's final.
World number 2 Trump was, however, in lacklustre form across his quarter-final meeting with Jones, with a highest break of just 22 on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump won just one frame of the final session, with Jones racing ahead to 12-9 and securing a famous victory with a break of 106 in the final frame. It will rank alongside the greatest shocks in the championship's history.
𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝘾𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙨!
Jak Jones defeats Judd Trump with a century to finish and progresses to the semi-final of the World Snooker Championship 👏#CazooWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/LFEFJn2ZOD— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 1, 2024
Jones now goes on to face the winner of Ronnie O'Sullivan's last-eight tie with Stuart Bingham in the semi-finals, hoping to become the first qualifier to win the World Snooker Championship in 19 years.
For Trump, who had won five ranking titles in the 2023/24 season thus far, Wednesday marked crushing disappointment - and seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry did not hold back in his reaction to the final session of his defeat.
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Stephen Hendry throws dig at Judd Trump after shock World Snooker Championship exit
Reacting to the stunning result on BBC on Wednesday afternoon, Hendry praised Jones but pulled no punches in assessing Trump's lifeless performance.
Every credit to Jak Jones. I have to say, in the end he's only had to stand up to win this match, no real resistance from his opponent. But every credit.
Trump's wait for a second world title will now extend for six years, despite solidifying his position as one of the world's best players over that period.
Reflecting on his dour performance at the Crucible on Wednesday, Trump was brutally honest, saying that Jones had saved him the embarrassment of potentially facing Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last four.
In my eyes the season has been very successful and it's not easy to have a good run here. I think on paper I would have been favourite to beat him and play Ronnie.
But, to be honest, playing like that he did me a favour. I'd have lost 17-0 playing like that.
[Winning at the Crucible] will definitely happen again. It's just sometimes when you're out there in the moment I do little things that maybe I wouldn't do in other tournaments, that might not be correct at that time.
However, Trump did raise issue with the slow pace of the game, saying that he had not slept overnight and claiming that a game played at his "own pace" would likely have resulted in a very different result.
I think it's very difficult to get the right balance here over such a long period. It's very draining.
I think a lot of the frames went quite slow so I think maybe I should have played a more attacking game. It's something I should know by now to control the speed of the game. I just got a bit bogged down.
It was difficult, I was very tired. It's just not my pace of play. Last night was very tiring playing in the morning and at night. If I was playing well at my own pace, I would have been done and dusted early. But it went on late last night, I didn't sleep very good, and I just missed too many easy balls today.
It will remain a "what if," however, with Jak Jones deservedly progressing to the semi-finals. He will learn his opponent when Ronnie O'Sullivan's tie with Stuart Bingham concludes on Wednesday evening.
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