体坛英语新闻：Trump cruises past Bingham to book "Rocket" tie at Snooker Masters

LONDON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- English rising star Judd Trump outplayed Stuart Bingham 6-3 at the Masters on Monday and set up a potentially explosive clash with the giant of snooker Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals.

Bingham, the world's number 14, seized a good start when he went 2-1 up and then took a 3-2 lead in the best of 11 frames.

But Trump, who clinched his first UK Championship title last month, showed some of the flashes of genius to regain the momentum by winning in a run of four frames to seal the victory.

The 22-year-old new star also fired a superb 121 break in the seventh frame, arousing successive applause and cheers from the stands at Alexandra Palace, the new home of the event after its more than 30-year stay at Wembly.

Two generations of snooker's exciting talents will go head to head on Thursday as the 36-year-old O'Sullivan had already entered the last eight after his 6-4 victory over China's defending champion Ding Junhui yesterday.

"It's always a special occasion when you play Ronnie in any tournament, " said Trump, currently the fifth in the world.

"The first time I ever played him I was a bit scared and felt under pressure, but other than that he's just another player to me now and just another in my way, stopping me from getting to the title," added by the winner, who was the favourite to win the 150,000 pounds first prize of the event, running from Jan 15 to Jan 22.

The gifted left-hander seems to be born for the big stage as he can always thrive on the intense atmosphere in his courageous attacking style, sunny boy looks and carefree attitude, capturing the public popularity with more and more fans.

This was only Trump's second appearance at the Masters, the most prestigious invitation tournament starting in 1975. He lost to Mark Allen on his 2009 debut.

But the English genius had built himself as one the most feared potter in the game, promising to shoot down his second crown of the "big three" snooker events including World Championship, UK Championship and the ongoing Masters.

"I still think there's a lot of stuff I need to work on," said Trump, whose dream is to win the other two titles maybe this year or not far.

In another clash of the day, Shaun Murphy eased to the quarter-finals by beating Martin Gould 6-2.

The eight-day event is one highlight of the snooker season, featuring an elite field of the world's top 16 players.