Ding Junhui won the International Championship in Chengdu, beating Marco Fu 10-9 in what was a superb final, that had absolutely everything including centuries, long safety battles, tension and even a 147 attempt.
So let's have a look back on another great contest this week:
Ding Junhui 10 - 9 Marco Fu - The match started off relatively scrappy, with both players having chances in the opener, before Fu won it on the colours. However, both players soon settled into the match and played a very high standard of snooker. Fu soon doubled his lead with a break of 128, before Ding made a century of his own (a 108) to make the score 2-1. Fu took the last frame before the first mid-session interval, needing a couple of chances, but he did enough to go 3-1 ahead. After the mid-session break, Ding found another extra couple of gears, and produced some of the best snooker of the week when it mattered. He closed the gap to 1 frame with a run of 92, before squaring the match with a magnificent break of 138. Before too long Ding was in front, and Marco could really do nothing about this barrage from the Chinaman, who made yet another century, this time a 127, to go 4-3 in front. All of a sudden, Ding had made 3 centuries in a row with a another great 126, to go 5-3 up and guarantee a lead going into the 2nd session. The question now was, could Fu stop Ding, and stay with him by winning the final frame of the session. The frame was very much a tense one, and Fu needed more than 1 chance to see it off, good breaks under pressure of 36 and 39 were enough to seal the frame though and ensure that Ding only had a 1 frame advantage going into the 2nd session, 5-4 ahead.
The standard of the final session was just as good as the first session, and this showed in the very first frame, as Ding made another century break, a magnificent 108, to open up a 2 frame advantage at 6-4. The eleventh frame, was another tense and scrappy battle, but it was the man from Hong Kong that did enough to take it and close the gap to 6-5. The drama continued in the next as Fu got in, and with only blacks and baulk colours to play for, Fu took the first 13 reds with blacks, and was sat on a possible maximum. After potting the 14th red successfully, he had to try and open up the last from the pot, and played it perfectly... except he missed the black. However, a break of 105 was enough to level the game. The last frame before mid-session was another all important frame, but Marco Fu just continued from where he left off in the last, with a run of 71 putting him 7-6 ahead at the break. Ding knew he needed to keep up the good standard he produced in the opening session, and after the interval, a run of 65 was enough for him to level up once more. However, the game continued to swing this way and that, with Fu edging ahead once more at 8-7 thanks to a break of 81. 2 breaks of 30 from Ding, managed to help him make it 8-8, turning the match into a best of 3 for the title. Both players knew how important frame 17 was, with the winner going 1 away from the title, and a very long and tense frame followed. Both players had their chances, but it was a break of 37 from Fu that seemed to be the driving force that put him one up with 2 to play at 9-8. But as I have said on countless occasions this week, Ding continued to produce his best snooker under pressure, and in this high pressure of situations, with the next mistake possibly being his last, he made a break of 58 that had to be admired, to force the decider. The old phrase goes that "all you want in the decider is a chance". This particularly true in the decider of ranking event final, and unfortunately Marco Fu did not get his. Ding Junhui had the one last burst of brilliance that he needed to seal the title with an absolutely superb break of 91 giving him the deciding frame, and his 3rd ranking event in succession.
A truly brilliant final then, completing a truly magnificent week of top class snooker, and all credit must go to Marco Fu as well Ding Junhui who both played top class snooker, worthy of any stage in snooker. Ding has achieved something that most snooker players will never get close to by winning 3 ranking events in a row, and he now moves into the UK Championships at the end of the month as a hot favourite, and it will really take something special to stop him right now. I'm looking forward to it already.
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