Ding Junhui set-up yet another all Asian final at an Asian ranking event so far this season, after he won a great match against Graeme Dott 9-7. Ding, going for his third ranking event of the season, plays Marco Fu who won yesterday's semi-final and will certainly provide Ding with another test.
So here's my summary of a classic semi-final:
Ding Junhui 9-7 Graeme Dott - Ding Junhui was just about able to see off the plucky Graeme Dott to move into the final. Despite being behind several times during the match, Dott as always just would not give up. Graeme in fact, deserves a lot of credit for his performances today, and throughout the week, he always fights hard, and has shown some return to form this week. I hope his great form continues, because even his B game never lets players get off with an easy win. On to the match, and it started with Dott taking the opener courtesy of a 57. Ding hit back though taking the next 2 with breaks of 66 and 71 to move into a 2-1 lead. The lead didn't last long though, as Dott made a nice little 69 to level proceedings as they headed into the mid-session break of the opening session. An early 53 was eventually enough to give the Chinaman a 3-2 lead. That lead was soon doubled as Ding took what was a very tight and scrappy frame by a single point, with a clearance of 33. Graeme responded well though by taking the penultimate frame of the session, helped by a break of 48, to make the score 4-3. In a similar fashion to yesterdays semi-final, the final frame of the first session was quite a scrappy one, with both players knowing it's importance. However, it was Ding that took it, to put himself 5-3 in front going into the final session.
The second session began with Ding taking a 3 frame lead, needing a few chances after Dott made an earlier 51, but he took it in the end to go 6-3 ahead. Breaks of 40 and 50 in the next soon put Ding 2 frames from victory, dominating the encounter with a commanding 7-3 lead. This is where Dott's fighting qualities began to show. A break of 74 reduced the deficit to 3 frames, and Graeme followed this up with a classy 75 to go into the mid-session interval only 2 frames behind at 7-5. The gritty Scot started from where he left off before the interval with another good break of 83 to close to within a single frame at 7-6, putting Ding under pressure once again. But, as he seems to do every time he is put under pressure these days, the Shanghai Masters and Indian Open champion responded with a great break of 121 to put him 2 clear again and 1 frame from victory at 8-6. Dott didn't give up though, and clung on once more, with a run of 57 pulling the score back to 8-7. Dotty looked good to force a decider at one stage in the sixteenth, but he let Ding back in, and the Chinaman pulled off several pressure pots throughout the break, and made a quite brilliant pressure break of 63 to win the frame on the black and take the match 9-7. All credit to Dott though he was brilliant, and is one of my favourite players simply because of how he continues to battle, no matter how bad the situation may seem.
Final Preview:
Ding Junhui Vs Marco Fu - Can anyone stop Ding winning 3 ranking titles in a row on his current form? Probably only a few players on top form could to be honest. Is Marco Fu one of those? If he can keep up the standard of snooker he has played so far this week, then yes is the answer. Either way, I expect that this match will be closely fought from start to finish, with some tense frames, countered by some heavy scoring from both players. Both guys, as I mentioned, are playing and scoring brilliantly. But another thing that both players have done really well, particularly in their semi-finals, is respond to pressure. Fu was under immense pressure at 5-2 down, in the opening session against Perry, knowing 1 slip up in the final frame of the session could be the end of him really. As it was, he won that final frame of the session, and the first 3 of the next session to go 6-5 ahead, and again responded well in the decider. Meanwhile, Ding was constantly being put under pressure by Graeme Dott, especially when he came from 7-3 down to make it 7-6. However, Ding's response was to make it 8-6 with a century, showing that he could handle those tricky little situations. Both players are so evenly matched, but I just feel that Ding has an a small edge overall, and I think that could be enough to get him his third ranking event in a row. Whatever happens, it should be a really cracking final over the best of 19 frames, with some really entertaining snooker to be expected by these 2.
Prediction: A tight 10-8 victory for Ding Junhui.
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