Judd Trump expects Jack Lisowski to make a winning breakthrough in the near future.

But it was his win over pre-tournament favourite Neil Robertson in the previous round that caught the eye.

Trump is close friends with Lisowski, and has been impressed with how the free-flowing potting machine has begun to embrace the tactical side of the game.

“I am really proud of what he has done,” Trump told Eurosport. “He has started to show what he can do out there.

“This is the first time he has shown the viewers that he can really battle.

“I don’t think he played his absolute best, he managed to dig in. In the safety battles, rather than giving the easy chances away which he normally always does, he has cut that out a bit.

“He has finally learned to take a bit of pleasure out of the safety game. It is a little bit late, but he is still young in snooker terms nowadays.”

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Trump feels Lisowski, who was beaten in three finals last season and is still to win a tournament, has looked stronger mentally in recent months.

“Mentally when I have seen him make these big clearances, he has looked stronger,” Trump said. “This is a stepping stone for the future.

“He just needs to believe.

“He has proven that he can do it on the biggest stage, against the best player in the world in Neil Robertson. To do it after Neil came back and made a maximum, it does not get any harder than that. So to get over the line would give him the belief.

“It is only now a matter of time before he wins an event.

“He has so much talent and I really hope this is a new Jack Lisowski going forward and we can see a lot more of that going into the new season.”

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