Judd Trump hails snooker rival after heavy defeat - 'He's making it look easy'

Judd Trump was full of praise for after suffereing a heavy loss to his rival at the . Hawkins ran away with a 10-5 victory, moving into the semi-finals as a result.

The pair were locked in a tight battle early on, but Hawkins got his nose in front and stormed to victory. The 45-year-old had demolished in the opening round, and made light work of top seed trump to march into Friday's semis.

suggested the victory over Murphy filled his opponent with confidence, though he pointed to some close calls early on at 2-1 and 2-2. "The first session was where it turned," he told ITV4 (via ).

"It was tricky. Barry did play very well, scored very heavy when he had the chances. Just little flicks here and there, but he played well, it’s one of them games.

"He played well against Shaun and played well against me. The table is playing tough but he’s making it look easy. Full of momentum and well done to him."

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Reflecting on the victory, Hawkins said: "I'm just trying to concentrate on what I do that makes me play well.

"I'm over the moon. It wasn't quite the same performance as against Shaun but I still felt like I was solid enough. I took most of my chances when they came along - it's not easy to beat the number one."

Next up for Hawkins is the winner of the match between John Higgins and Xiao Guodong. Higgins held a narrow overnight lead and has extended it to 8-3 at the time of writing.

In the other half of the draw, Neil Robertson faces Mark Selby with Kyren Wilson up against Ding Junhui. With top seed Trump eliminated, reigning world champion Wilson is the highest-ranked player remaining.

The Tour Championship offers those left in the competition to build up confidence ahead of this year's World Championship at the Crucible. Hawkins fell at the first hurdle in 2024, leading 8-5 against Ryan Day before the Welshman won five frames on the spin.

Hawkins will go straight into the main draw again as one of the top 16 seeds. It was a tournament full of upsets, with six of the top 10 seeds falling by the wayside in the opening round. The 2024 World Championship final saw 12th seed Wilson beat qualifier Jak Jones by a margin of 18-14. Wilson and Jones could meet in round two this time, with the pair seeded first and 16th respectively.

World champ Wilson is coming off a "special" Players Championship triumph. He beat Trump in the final on that occasion to win his fourth ranking since winning at the Crucible and 10th of his career.

"It was mentioned this week that if I won, I would go level with the legend Jimmy White on 10 ranking titles," WIlson said (via ). "For me growing up, watching a legend like Jimmy, to be level with him is a dream come true."