Judd Trump brushes off cue confusion to beat John Higgins in Wuhan

World number one Judd Trump overcame picking up the wrong cue to complete a 5-2 win over John Higgins and book his place in the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open.

Trump, the defending champion, inadvertently brought another player’s cue back with him after the mid-session interval, pointing out the issue to the referee as he was about to break off for the fifth frame.

After initially being told to continue and make the change during a time-out, Trump briefly returned to his seat before getting up to explain what had happened to Higgins while his own cue was swiftly retrieved from back stage and brought out to the table.

“My cue was in the case, but Ben (Woollaston) put his cue next to my case,” Trump said to Higgins as he made the change.

The minor mishap did not put Trump off his stride as he made a break of 56 to open up a 4-1 lead, having earlier recovered from losing the opening frame.

Higgins then crafted a fine clearance of 126, his 1,005th career century, to stay in touch, but it was only delaying the inevitable as Trump sealed victory by taking the next frame 67-0 to reach a 14th consecutive quarter-final this year.

Reflecting on the bizarre incident after his win, Trump said in an interview with the World Snooker Tour: “I have never done that before. It was a bit of a shock.

“It wasn’t until I really got to the table that I noticed. I was going to break off and the cue felt strange, so I looked down and it wasn’t my cue.

“Luckily for me, John was very nice about it and he just told me to wait as long as possible.

“I think it has happened before and someone got awarded the frame, but John was nice enough just to allow me enough time to get my cue back.”

Jack Lisowski earlier swept past China’s Wu Yize 5-0, making a half-century break in each of the first four frames and then finishing with a run of 117 to coast into the quarter-finals.

Shaun Murphy edged out Ali Carter in a last-frame decider.

Both players produced centuries either side of the interval in a high-quality contest, which Murphy secured with a 68 break in the ninth frame to win 5-4.

There was also success for China’s Long Zehuang, who battled past Woollaston 5-3, a break of 76 securing a hard-earned victory to set up a quarter-final against Lisowski.