Stephen Hendry has backed Judd Trump to defend his Northern Ireland Open title on Sunday by beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final again.

The pair contested the final in Belfast last year, with Trump winning 9-7, and Hendry is predicting the exact same scoreline this time around.

The seven-time world champion is predicting a close match and would never be surprised to see the Rocket win any match, but is tipping the world number one for more success.

‘9-7 Trump,’ tweeted Hendry when asked for a score prediction.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Ronnie won, just think Trump has that extra something atm [at the moment].’

Trump’s triumph last year was followed up with a resounding win over O’Sullivan in the Masters final when he downed the Rocket 10-4.

However, the five-time world champ gained some revenge in the semi-finals of the Players Championship when he beat Trump 10-9, in their last meeting.

O’Sullivan admits that Trump is ‘the man to beat’ at the moment in the sport, and has challenged him to keep his current levels of success going for years to come.

‘It’s how long you want to be in the sport, how long you want to dedicate yourself to it, I’ve dedicated all my life to it. That’s what you have to do,’ O’Sullivan told World Snooker after his semi-final win over Joe Perry.

‘I’ve got talent, John Higgins has got talent, Mark Williams had talent, Judd’s got talent.

‘If you don’t put the hours in and dedicate your life to it then it’s easy to go off the boil.

‘The ball’s in his court, we’ll see if he adopts that attitude and devotes his life to the game, and it looks like he is doing that.

‘He’s got his brother on board, he’s pulled it all together and you’ve seen the difference in his performances.

‘I learnt from Hendry to be disciplined, I wasn’t the most disciplined and I had to learn that side of it and Judd’s similar to me, he’s had to learn that side of it.

‘He’s definitely the man to beat, he’s got age on his side and I’m sure he’ll have a very good career.’

The final is played over two sessions on Sunday, starting at 1pm and 7pm with the winner taking home £70,000 and the runner-up settling for £30,000.

Even a defeat for O’Sullivan would see him storm up the one-year ranking list from his current position at #83, well into the top 32, which will see him qualify for the World Grand Prix in February.

Whatever the result, Trump will extend his lead at the top of the world rankings and one-year ranking list.

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