Ding Junhui is through to his fifth MrQ UK Championship final after an epic 6-4 semi-final defeat of Judd Trump in York.
The UK Championship has provided some of the greatest moments in Ding’s career so far. The Chinese legend burst to prominence in 2005, when he followed his China Open win up by beating Steve Davis in the UK final to claim maiden Triple Crown glory. He claimed the title in 2009 and 2019, beating Scotland’s John Higgins and Stephen Maguire respectively. Ding was runner-up last year to Mark Allen.
Tomorrow’s showpiece clash will be a meeting between snooker’s two biggest global superstars. It is the first final between 39-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan and 14-time ranking title holder Ding since the 2018 World Grand Prix, when the Rocket prevailed 10-3. However, Ding won their most recent meeting at last year’s UK Championship, storming to a 6-0 victory.
This evening’s tie saw Ding take down the player of the season so far. Trump captured three consecutive titles at the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open and was runner-up at the recent Champion of Champions, but fell short of another final this week.
The first four frames were shared, before Trump burst into life with a fine break of 124 to take the lead at 3-2. Ding controlled the sixth to restore parity and a century run of 110 saw him lead 4-3. Trump hit back with 105 to draw level once more, but it was Ding who edged towards the finish line with a fine break of 88 to lead 5-4.
The tenth frame saw Trump have the first significant contribution, but just as he looked set to force a decider he missed an unexpected red to the middle on 31. Ding stepped up with a match winning 84 to secure his place in the final.
“I have the feeling here (in York) that I can play well. It started in 2005,” said 36-year-old Ding. “I’m happy to see myself get back into form like this. Normally I don’t fight like this in a tough match. I did well today, I said come on to myself and I keep running and running.”
“I needed to play my best because he has had an amazing start to the season. He is confident and has done well in many tournaments.You can’t see anyone not playing well in a semi-final.
“It is great to play Ronnie in the final. We haven’t had that many chances to face each other. The Chinese fans especially love to see it. I love to play against Ronnie. I want to play well and maybe win the match. This is what I dream of, he was my hero when I was a little boy.”
Trump said: “I don’t feel like I played particularly well in the whole tournament. I was just scraping through and relying on my opponent missing. Ding didn’t really miss anything easy throughout the whole game. I was making little mistakes and the balls just weren’t going perfect like they were in the first couple of games. It is little fine margins.”
