Ding stays on course with comeback win
Source: AFP |
May 1, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S Ding Junhui said he felt ready to win the snooker World Championship after booking a quarterfinal place with a 13-9 win over Mark King at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Monday.
No Chinese player has won the World Championship, but former Masters and UK champion Ding has long been tipped as the man most likely to make that breakthrough and take snooker's top title to a country where the sport has been enjoying a boom for several years.
Ding was 2-6 behind at one stage, only to stun King in a match where the Chinese master cueman reeled off four centuries and a further seven breaks over 50.
For Sheffield-based Ding, who was playing another Englishman in Barry Hawkins in the last-eight yesterday, the pressure of playing at the Crucible is nothing like the strain of performing in front of the home crowd.
Yet his record at the Crucible is poor, as in six previous visits he has only gone beyond the second round once, in 2011 when he lost to Judd Trump in the semifinals.
However, he said he is now coming to terms with the Crucible.
"I find it easier to play here in Sheffield than to play in China," Ding said. "There are so many things that happen around me in tournaments in China, but you need to be able to relax, concentrate, practice and get ready for your matches. Then you can win. But if you can't relax, then you have no chance."
An admiring King said that on this form, not even Ronnie O'Sullivan, the reigning world champion, could cope with Ding, who won seven out of eight frames in the middle session.
"He was on a different planet and when he's hitting the ball like that I don't think anyone can get near him, even Ronnie O'Sullivan," King said.
O'Sullivan maintained his title defense with a 13-8 win over Ali Carter in a repeat of last year's final.
No Chinese player has won the World Championship, but former Masters and UK champion Ding has long been tipped as the man most likely to make that breakthrough and take snooker's top title to a country where the sport has been enjoying a boom for several years.
Ding was 2-6 behind at one stage, only to stun King in a match where the Chinese master cueman reeled off four centuries and a further seven breaks over 50.
For Sheffield-based Ding, who was playing another Englishman in Barry Hawkins in the last-eight yesterday, the pressure of playing at the Crucible is nothing like the strain of performing in front of the home crowd.
Yet his record at the Crucible is poor, as in six previous visits he has only gone beyond the second round once, in 2011 when he lost to Judd Trump in the semifinals.
However, he said he is now coming to terms with the Crucible.
"I find it easier to play here in Sheffield than to play in China," Ding said. "There are so many things that happen around me in tournaments in China, but you need to be able to relax, concentrate, practice and get ready for your matches. Then you can win. But if you can't relax, then you have no chance."
An admiring King said that on this form, not even Ronnie O'Sullivan, the reigning world champion, could cope with Ding, who won seven out of eight frames in the middle session.
"He was on a different planet and when he's hitting the ball like that I don't think anyone can get near him, even Ronnie O'Sullivan," King said.
O'Sullivan maintained his title defense with a 13-8 win over Ali Carter in a repeat of last year's final.
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