So how do you follow a match like yesterday’s semi-final? We are about to find out as the 2009 UK Championship final gets underway in Telford. Click below for my live updates throughout the day…
Can John Higgins recover from that epic match yesterday to finish the decade as he started it – with a ranking event title?
F1: A cagey start to the match as the two exchange safety shots…well both are failing to fire at the moment, Ding squandering two half-chances while Higgins fails to take advantage. Nervous start.
That’s more like it from Ding however, an excellent 81 from Ding securing an early lead.
F2: Advantage Ding again at the start of frame two, the 2005 UK champion getting in first, though there are not many reds out there in the open…
This could be the first turning point in the match, Ding breaking down on 43 and giving Higgins a chance to get back into it with most of the remaining reds out in the open. This is more like it from John, one of the best breaks I have seen all week (including yet another double), and he levels it up at 1-1. Looks like there will be a short break as they look at the lighting, apparently one is shining into John’s eyes as he sits in his chair.
F3: Eventually the lighting is solved and Ding has knocked in an excellent long red to get us underway in frame three. And he makes and excellent 69 break before missing a blue off the spot to give John a glimmer of hope. Needing several snookers however it looks like 2-1 to the Chinese number 1…and it is.
F4: Pressure shot for Ding early in frame four, 13-0 ahead and with a tricky pink to the green pocket. As John Virgo would say, it’s not there and Higgins can counter.
Hold the front page, John misses a double. 54 ahead with just 51 on however, he looks good for 2-2 at the first interval. Ding though is not giving up, playing for snookers on just the colours now. Ultimately it was in vain however and into the interval we go. John will certainly be the happier of the two there I think…
F5: Looks like we could be set for a long fifth frame as at least four of the reds have gone safe and six of the seven colours are now off their spots. A brilliant shot from Higgins however sees him pot a tough red, only to see him miss the black and leave Ding with a great opportunity to get some points on the board.
He has not won the frame in one visit but 59 ahead with 59 remaining he is a strong favourite – even more so having now just fluked a red with his next shot! 3-2 to Ding.
F6: A strange start to frame six as the balls again have run awkwardly. Would always favour John in frames like these…but for whatever reason he is not quite firing today, that excellent second frame apart, and a missed red has given the first big chance of the frame to Ding. He cannot take it but he has played a terrific snooker in behind the yellow and John is in all sorts of trouble now…
Though he made a mess of the escape, this is not going to be a frame taken in one visit…
Don’t worry I’ve not gone anywhere, this is just a VERY long frame!
And it goes the way of John Higgins following a superb black to the left centre. Ding had his chance but just missed a tough final pink down the cushion into the yellow pocket. 3-3 with two more frames to go. I wonder if the players might be hauled off if this next frame is another long one…
F7: And the way the reds are going it might just be…
John though is starting to get into a groove and on a break of 35, has just developed the most awkward group of reds on the table to give himself a chance of taking the frame at this visit to lead for the first time today. As soon as I say that however he has gone astray and trailing by just 27 points, Ding is in with a chance to steal it…
And what a brilliant clearance that is, every colour was tricky and he was never in ideal position, but they all went in and Ding is back in front. It looks like the final frame of the session will be played, both players will be hoping that it is not a long one as they will not have much of a break before the 8pm resumption.
Ding well ahead on both pot success and surprisingly safety success, would be a very good result for John to come out of this session 4-4…
And 4-4 it is, John taking the frame with a couple of good scoring visits. Very nicely poised going into tonight…
8:07pm GMT and we are back on for the conclusion of this final. It looks like we could have another late night in with the snooker…
F9: Good start from Higgins in this frame, he will need to improve on this afternoon when I felt that he was hanging on to Ding a touch. A very unfortunate moment there however as he has gone into the pack from the blue and accidentally sent a red into a corner pocket. The excellent chance created now falls to Ding…but he can only make 21. A strange shot selection eventually costs him dear as he misses a yellow into the top corner. 21-21 with seven reds remaining…
Ding eventually takes it after a missed black from John proved to be costly. The pattern of this afternoon continues!
F10: A missed red from mid-distance looked to have cost John Higgins dear but a spectacular miscue on a break of just six from Ding has given him a reprieve. With the reds nicely spread, this is a good opportunity to draw level once again.
Unusually for John however, he has not been able to convert the chance, not coming down the table far enough to see the black. 36 points ahead with plenty still remaining, this could yet go the way of Ding. That said, John has just pulled out a terrific long red and landing perfectly on the pink to give himself another chance to score.
59 ahead with 51 remaining, it looks like 5-5. Ding may want some time to check out his tip here as he does not seem to be happy with it following that miscue.
An interesting moment there as Ding actually forced an error from John where he hit the black instead of the intended red to give seven penalty points away. To verify the error, referee Eirian Williams asked the marker in the arena to replay the incident on the monitor in the arena, something that I have not seen before. Ultimately though it does not look to have cost John anything as he sinks the next red to leave Ding 45 points behind with 35 on.
F11: The initial opening falls to Ding Junhui who moves into a 28-0 lead but a missed red to the left-centre has now given John a chance to get back into it. 12 is all he can make however and a safety error gives Ding the best chance of the frame.
Funny really, ahead of the Grand Prix final I thought that Ding’s superior safety game would see him past Robertson, only for Neil to comfortably win that department. Today though I expected Higgins to come out on top in the safety battles but instead it has been Ding!
As a result, Ding goes back into the lead yet again at 6-5. One more frame before the mid-session interval now, what a great time this would be for him to break the sequence and go into a two frame lead for the first time.
F12: Both players have had chances early on in this frame but a failed attempt to swerve round the black onto a red over a corner pocket from Ding has handed the initiative to John. He’s somehow just hanging on in this match, a lot like Marco Fu last year. It is going to be 6-6 at the break…
F13: We’re back on after the interval and the first good chance falls to John Higgins. Can he go into the lead for the first time in the match? He certainly can. 7-6 to the Scot.
F14: A bad miss from Ding again gives the first big chance to John but he can only make five before breaking down and handing the chance straight to Ding who makes no mistake. We are level again at 7-7!
F15: The nerves are clearly showing now as John breaks down on 28 early in frame fifteen and now Ding is in with the remaining reds scattered far and wide. In fairness to John it was a tough green that he missed but it looks like being costly…
Ding though has gone astray when attempting to move a red off the cushion and missed a tough blue off the spot as a result. Just six points behind with four reds remaining, John now has a chance to punish him.
Well that is unlike John, he has tried to develop the final red when the obvious shot looked to be to stun in behind it and then pot it down the cushion. Very unusual but it has now given Ding a chance that I did not expect him to have a couple of minutes ago.
Oh and can you believe that, finding himself in a tough snooker, John Higgins has not only hit the red but somehow he has managed to fluke it into a corner pocket. Following it up with a colour, the yellow and the green, it looked like 8-7 to the Scot all the way but unbelievably he missed the simplest of browns off the spot and Ding has cleared up to take the frame!
That really was an incredible miss from John, he will do very well to put that out of his mind and win this match…
F16: If anyone can do that though then it is John Higgins and he has pulled out a terrific long red at the start of frame 16 to give himself the first chance. He can only amass a 49 point lead however, he is struggling out there.
Ding is right back in this now at 42-49 with just the colours remaining. In goes the yellow…and in goes an excellent green, this should be 9-7 now and two frames clear for the first time today, that could be the frame that makes the difference tonight. That is two straight frames that Higgins should not have lost – but he has.
F17: Worrying times for Higgins now as Ding is full of confidence, hammering in a terrific long red before following it with an excellent green when hampered by the yellow. Not sure if John is going to get another shot…so on his next shot Ding is out of position!
Well John has got another shot and boy what a shot it is, rolling in a red the full length of the table dead weight to land on the black. Under the circumstances that was possibly the shot of the week. Needs to take full advantage now by taking the frame in one visit. Ooh he has nearly missed but the black uses all of the pocket before eventually dropping. And the same for a pink further on in the break! Still, he has done enough to take the frame, his 426th century break shifting the pressure right onto Ding.
F18: First chance in frame 18 falls to Higgins following a wayward safety from Ding which saw him catch the knuckle of the left-centre pocket. Unfortunately though he has missed a red on 27 and leaving Ding right in, might again have played his final shot of the week. All will depend on Ding’s next shot to split the reds…and it is brilliant. That could well be that…
48 ahead, 35 remaining, it looks over but John has got four points back and will continue…
But Ding has done it! A well deserved victory for him. More to follow in a separate post…