Judd Trump dominates opening session of semi-final clash against Mark Williams

Judd Trump dominated the early stages of his World Championship semi-final with Mark Williams to take a commanding 7-1 lead at the Crucible.

Trump heads into Friday with a 7-1 lead at the Crucible in a match which is a best of 33 frames. The winner requires 17 to advance into the final.

It was Trump's long pointing which was the standout of the first session with three-time world champion Williams unable to find any fluency on the table.

Williams - unhappy with the conditions of the table - won his only frame of the session in the fourth game.

Following a rerack in the opening frame, Williams' misery began when he went into a bunch of reds after potting a blue and one of them ended in the bottom pocket.

Trump, the 2019 world champion, took advantage with 49 in reply before a long brown after some safety exchanges sealed the frame.

Successive breaks of 70, the first one benefiting from another Williams in-off, gave Trump a 3-0 lead before a see-saw fourth frame which lasted over 33 minutes.

Williams made heavy weather of his first success after a well-compiled 46 had put him in the driving seat, Trump almost threatening to get the two snookers needed to poach the frame.

It was the same story, however, after the interval as Trump prospered from range and Williams suffered another crucial in-off to dent his recovery hopes.

Trump won a messy fifth frame and came out on top of another safety battle in the sixth.

A 62 break gave Trump the next frame before more caution led to the second rerack of the session.

Trump was looking increasingly confident and produced breaks of 53 and 41 to extend his lead to six, leaving Williams with a mountain to climb in Friday's second session.