Grand Prix 2009: Williams v Ding Frame by Frame

After the drama this afternoon, can this evening’s second semi-final live up to it? Well in frame one we have had the highest break of the tournament so the signs are pretty encouraging!

See how the result has affected both the provisional and one-year rankings.

Ding Junhui 5-1 Mark Williams

0-142(142), 76-18, 103(103)-20, 60-27, 66-30, 62-46, 80(79)-35(35)

Frame One:

What a start! Without playing a bad shot Ding Junhui has been punished by a flawless break of 142 from Mark, the highest break of the tournament so far. Game on!

Frame Two:

Williams in first again but can only make 17 before Ding pots his first ball of the night with a well-taken plant. He could only make 18 himself however before an attempt to split the reds went wrong…

Ding is being given several opportunities here but is struggling to kill off the frame for whatever reason. Mark though has let him off the hook, notably with a missed black off the spot and Ding leads by 31 points with three reds remaining…

With a break of 23 Ding has got over the line to take the frame and level the match. Hopefully that will settle him down because he has looked edgy so far tonight.

Frame Three:

A cagey start to frame three as Ding’s long game continues to fail him tonight and it looks like we may be in for our first re-rack of the evening. That said things are just starting to open up a little now, first mistake will be very costly…

Or not, Mark has got in first with a nice long pot but could make just three from it and now Ding is in with a good chance to win the frame in one visit…103 and the frame, very nice…

Frame Four:

Big frame now for Mark, he’s looking erratic and wasting chances. Does not want to fall 3-1 down tonight.

The first chance has gone to Ding however and an excellent blue when stretching is an example of his rapidly increasing confidence tonight. Not for the first time this week though, an attempted split has gone wrong and Ding has to play safe on 31…

Ding is back in following a nice long red, can he secure an interval lead now? The reds are certainly well spread…

Interesting, Ding misses a relatively straight-forward pink to left-centre on 50 and now Mark has the chance to steal what could be a huge fourth frame…but for the second time tonight he has missed a simple black off the spot and Ding has punished him with an excellent long red to confirm a 3-1 interval lead.

Frame Five:

Ding is out and looking to pick up where he left off with a fabulous long red to earn the first opportunity of this frame, but he can only make 16 and now the chance falls to Williams…who makes 24.

Another 12 for Ding and though he could not add to the break, a good safety shot has forced an error from Mark and he has a great chance for 4-1. The only saving grace for Mark could be one red close to the green by the black spot…and indeed it is as his attempt to split them has gone wrong and he leads by only 32 points with 35 remaining. Crucial frame for Mark now, if he could steal then then he would be right back in the match…

Unfortunately for Mark however although he managed to make a nice long pot on the final red, he could not leave himself nicely on the yellow and needing to get back down the table to the green missed the shot by a large margin. Ding duly followed this with yellow and green and barring snookers it will be 4-1…and it is. Long way back now for Mark.

Frame Six:

The frame begins with an attempted long red from Mark Williams but as commentator Dennis Taylor has said, he really is not cueing well at the moment and that opening frame 142 feels like a long time ago now. Ding has had a couple of chances as a result but the balls have not quite run well for him and he has scored just 14 points before having to play safe.

Both players have continued to have chances in what has developed into a very scrappy frame, but with four reds to go it is Williams who is in at the moment as he looks to pull one frame back…

Unfortunately for Mark however yet another missed black off the spot has brought his break to an end, though in fairness to him this one was far more difficult than his previous attempts. He now leads 46-38 with just the colours remaining so it will be very interesting to see who can force an error.

In goes the yellow from Ding and though he could not pot the green, he managed to play an excellent snooker in behind the brown which Mark needed two attempts to hit. What is worse for Mark, Ding has now managed to play another one and Mark is right under pressure here…

Ding manages to pot the yellow but he is not nicely on the brown and is forced to play safe again. Ding’s safety has been particularly impressive tonight actually, aside from some of Mark’s misses it has probably made the difference so far.

WOW. Sensational pot on the brown from Ding! The cue ball was hanging over the bottom left pocket at the black end of the table, the brown roughly around the green stop and Ding has managed to hammer it straight into the heart of the pocket. Soon after he managed to knock in blue and then a very good pink to lead 5-1. Excellent finish to a very intriguing frame.

Frame Seven:

Since his tournament high break of 142 in the opening frame Mark has made just one break over 30 and when that is the case it is always going to be difficult against someone of Ding’s quality. Needing the next five frames however it looks like he has decided to give it a go as he is in with the first opportunity in the frame.

A missed red from distance into the yellow pocket however sums up his night and now Ding is in with a chance to counter. The pack of reds will need disturbing so the frame is not a formality yet but it does look to be only a matter of time at the moment before Ding completes the victory…

And he does with an excellent break of 79 to book his first final appearance since the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy. He was not as impressive as for example Neil Robertson was this afternoon but he will certainly be a contender tomorrow in what is a very tough final to predict…