Judd Trump party spoiled by costly defeat on his birthday at snooker's British Open

Judd Trump seen in his match against Shaun Murphy during day 11 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at the Crucible Theatre on April 27, 2021 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Zac Goodwin - Pool/Getty Images).

Trump lost 3-2 to Elliot Slessor on his 32nd birthday and his failure to make the quarter-finals in Leicester cost him top spot in the world snooker rankings.

"There's nothing I can do," Trump told ITV4 after his defeat in the round of 32 to world number 49 Slessor. "I've won enough tournaments to be world number one. There's only so many tournaments you can win. I've won 11 in the last two years and I'm not number one, so hard lines."

Trump continued his criticism of the tables at the Morningside Arena after managing a top break of only 33 against Slessor.

He said: "It was a scrappy game. I couldn't really get any rhythm going and it was tough in the end. I said it from the first game I struggled with the table. I thought it was very heavy from the start.

"I've watched a lot of the games and they've been very scrappy. You're just battling to get through to the quarter-finals, where it goes to the best of seven and a new cloth on the table. I think you'll see the top players produce then."

Slessor compiled breaks of 40, 46 and 49 to secure a last-16 date with Ali Carter.

"I woke up this morning with butterflies in the belly and I felt it was going to be a decent day with a big crowd to play in front of," Slessor said.

"We both didn't play well at all. It was scrappy, but I just tried to dig in as best I could and take what was there."

Three-time world champion Mark Williams eased through with a 3-0 victory over Liam Highfield to play China's Zhang Jiankang next.

David Gilbert, Gary Wilson, Lukas Kleckers and Stephen Maguire also enjoyed 3-0 wins. Ricky Walden set up a quarter-final date with Ross Muir by beating John Higgins 3-1, while Iranian Hossein Vafaei continued his fairy tale progress with a 3-2 victory over Jak Jones.

Carter overcame Oliver Lines 3-1, Joe O'Connor beat Anthony Hamilton 3-2 and Jimmy Robertson squeezed past Duane Jones 3-2.

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