Judd Trump towers over Martin Gould at Crucible

Trump believes he can claim the Crucible title this year and the Bristol youngster offered more compelling evidence to support that view as Gould suffered in their second session.

If there is any consolation for Gould, who slipped from 5-3 at the start of the session to within two frames of defeat, it is that he knows an 11-5 lead is not necessarily a winning one. He too led by that margin in the last 16 last year, but Neil Robertson fought back to win 13-12.

The 29-year-old Londoner will return for this morning's final session with a glimmer of hope, but Trump should not crumble as Gould did last year.

Trump had a break of 108 in the second frame of the afternoon, but Gould cut his lead to 6-5 with runs of 76 and 72, only for the two-frame gap to be restored with 69 from Trump. "If in doubt hit it as hard as you can?!!" was Trump's message at the interval, as he turned to Twitter. He had smashed the white off the table at the end of the fourth frame of the afternoon, and he continued to be the aggressor when they returned, winning all four remaining with runs of 51 -- twice - 84 and 67.

A turning point came in frame 13 which went to a respotted black, and when Gould went for an ambitious double and missed it was left for Trump to put away.

Ali Carter or last year's runner-up Graeme Dott awaits the winner of Trump's match.