To get to this stage of the UK Championships James Cahill
had already beaten established names like Mark King and Andrew Higginson, but
Ding Junhui in the Last 32 would be a whole new challenge. It was Ding with the
best chance in the opener, playing multiple clever cannons into the pack of
reds. It was a classic Ding Junhui break and he looked in top form early on as
a break of 134 put him 1-0 in front in some style. Cahill’s first good chance of
the match arrived after he knocked in a very composed red from range. He went
into the pack early on and got a very nice split, to make it a frame winning
opportunity and he even looked competent playing a couple of shots with his
opposite hand. He looked very calm and up to the challenge by matching Ding’s
break in the first frame with a 100 to level it up at 1-1.
Ding had the first chance in frame three, but it went
begging when he took on a wild shot on a thin black and left a great chance for
the player affectionately known as “cheeks” by Shaun Murphy. Only 8 was
accumulated before he missed high on a tough cut to the middle. The frame
started to turn scrappy as balls ran safe on cushions and making a substantial
break would not be easy. When the balls were opened up more James had a nice
chance to put himself in a great position but an unexpected miss on the
penultimate red left him just 11 ahead. Cahill potted the red from range
shortly after but had no option but to play a snooker behind the pink and hope
that led to a chance on the final red. After several failed escapes from Ding,
Cahill had a 28 point lead with 35 remaining but when the chance fell to the
Chinese but he failed to land nicely on yellow and played a snooker behind the
brown instead. Needing just yellow and green for the frame, Cahill crunched in
the yellow from long distance coming around the table to finish perfect on the
green and win a mammoth frame for a 2-1 advantage. The best scoring juncture of
frame four came to Cahill after Ding missed a red to the middle with awkward
bridging, and left him in with reds open but again he could not take advantage.
It was not long before his next opening but with misses from both players the
frame started turning scrappy just as the last. When Ding missed a red down the
cushion with the other two reds open and the black over the corner a massive
moment fell to Cahill. James kept hold of position well and cleared to take an
important 3-1 mid-session lead having won the last two long and tactical frames.
The safety battle after the interval sent plenty of reds
into the baulk end, but when James knocked a tight red into the middle he had a
chance to clear some of these and put the frame back into normality. He did not
pot a colour from it though and went in-off in the process to hand the
opportunity over but again he was unable to make much of a contribution. The
safety that followed soon sent every ball into the baulk half of the table. Both
players chipped away but the table was tough to pot more than a couple of reds
in one visit. Cahill got a chance on the final two reds though and was able to
clear to the green to leave Ding needing snookers and ultimately move 4-1
ahead. In frame six, Ding had the first scoring chance and made 34 before
attempting a very tough red down the cushion. Ding was given another
opportunity and built up a 56 point lead before missing frame ball pink and
giving Cahill a chance on the final four reds. He potted three of the reds with
high value colours but didn’t land nicely on the last, but still played a calm
double to the middle and landed on the pink and he cleared the colours nicely
to go 5-1 ahead and one away from a massive victory.
Ding had a great chance in frame seven but butchered one on
32 with the rest and left a great chance for Cahill. He made 46 and built up a
14 point lead before attempting a double on one of the three remaining reds on
cushions. Ding sank two of the remaining three reds with colours to lead by one
before playing a snooker on the final red. After gaining 7 foul points and
potting the last red, Cahill led by 7 points on the colours after failing to
land on one from the final red. James made the yellow from range but landed
between positions on the green and missing a cut with the rest. A long battle
on the green followed until Cahill butchered a safety on it and Ding cleared
the colours to stop the rot of five frames lost in a row and get one back at
2-5. Ding was soon back at the table in the eighth following a missed red from
distance for ‘cheeks’. Yet again he lost position early on and only posted 27
to his score. Ding earned his next opening after some very attacking shots
early on in his break. A well-made 60 from there pulled another quick frame
back at 3-5. Frame nine saw Ding earn the first scoring juncture again and he
was looking good before missing a black off of its spot on 31. That handed the
opportunity over to Cahill and if he played his cards right he could win the
frame at this visit. He lost ideal position on the black on 35 though and that
caused his subsequent miss and handed the frame winning opening back over to
Ding Junhui. He had no trouble with a 55 clearance and looked to be growing a
lot stronger by pulling to within a frame of James Cahill at 4-5.
The safety battle at the start of frame ten sent the
majority of the reds into the baulk half of the table, and the first chance
eventually fell to Cahill after he knocked a pressure red into the middle. He
made a nice 57 from that start and left Ding needing snookers trailing by 68
with 59 remaining, after missing a relatively easy red with the rest. Ding
potted three reds with colours and laid a snooker on the last red behind the
black, putting Cahill in real trouble. James missed the red and left a free
ball behind the yellow, meaning with 43 now on if he played the yellow as the
free ball with the black and then the final red with the black he could win the
frame. Ding then played some cracking positional shots to get from the yellow
to the black, the black to the final red, and the final red in baulk back to
the black to give him the chance to force a decider. However, Cahill did get
back to the table after Ding had to play safe on the green. After a long battle
on the green and missed long attempts from both, a poor Cahill safety left the
green on for Ding. It wasn’t all plain sailing from there for Ding but he still
cleared after cutting in a thin black to level up at 5-5.
All you want in a decider is a chance and the first one in
this UK Championship decider fell to Ding. On 32 he missed a pretty easy red
just after going into the pack from the black, sending a huge opportunity over
to young Cahill. A good long pot to take him to 9 kept the break going after a
poor positional shot, on 55 a very well-played pressure double put him 24
points in front with 43 remaining before having to play safe. A fantastic long
pot from Cahill gave him a chance to finish it and he did just that by potting
the final two reds with colours to give young James Cahill a fantastic victory
6-5 over Ding Junhui to put him into the Last 16 of the UK Championships.
What a match that was and there's still half of the matches to come, so be back tomorrow for another classic match.
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