Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson will contest the China Open final tomorrow after both handed out semi-final thrashings to Mike Dunn and Ali Carter, to keep their hopes alive of winning the final ranking event ahead of the World Championships.
Neil Robertson went 2-0 up early on against the twice World Championship runner-up, starting off with breaks of 69 and 79, before Carter had a chance to steal the third after Robertson missed frame ball, but Carter missed the final pink on 62 and went 3-0 behind. It didn't get much better for Ali as he went into the interval 4-0 down, Neil making a break of 70 to take a commanding lead. The Aussie looked like making it 5-0 before missing a routine red on 59. Carter then made 57, but missed the final black, but Neil missed a long shot on it and Ali made a nice long pot to make it 1-4. Carter then got it back to 2-4 with a century, before a good 67 put Robertson one from victory at 5-2. Carter was in charge for much of the sixth frame but then he gave away several fouls, before eventually letting Neil in, and he made a 41 break to clinch the match 6-2.
Ding Junhui hammered Mike Dunn 6-0 in the second semi-final, despite it not being a vintage performance from Ding Junhui by any means. After Dunn had a chance to win a scrappy opener, things just didn't seem to happen for him, as Ding made breaks of 40, 42, 49 and 48 on the way to winning the next 3 frames and make it 4-0 at the mid-session break. A break of 54 was enough to put Ding one away at 5-0, before he then overturned a 43 point deficit in the 6th frame to win it on the colours and complete the whitewash.
Final Preview:
Neil Robertson Vs Ding Junhui - Both players have played some good snooker, not just this week, but throughout the season overall, with Ding Junhui going for his 5th ranking win of the season and Neil Robertson his 3rd. Neil Robertson has hardly been at his best this week, but he has improved as every match has gone on, and it's about time he made his 93rd century of the season, so I'm sure that that will be tomorrow. If he can go up another notch tomorrow then he has a brilliant chance of winning the tournament in very unlikely style. As for Ding, he's played well but not been entirely at his best. He has improved in the latter stages of the event, compared to his performances in the World Open and Players Championship, however he didn't quite produce the same stuff today against Mike Dunn, but he also didn't have much of a challenge it has to be said. Tomorrow though, it will be a fantastically close match between 2 players that have produced great snooker all year, and I'm sure that they will bring each others standard up tomorrow throughout.
Prediction: 10-7 to Ding Junhui.
It's been a good week of snooker this week and we have the perfect final to finish the week off, and I'm sure it will increase the excitement and the anticipation for the World Championships starting in 2 weeks time.
No comments:
Post a Comment