Classic Matches of 2013 countdown: 10th Place: Ding Junhui Vs Neil Robertson (2013 PTC Grand Finals)

It's time for the 3rd day of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2013 countdown and today we are taken back to Sunday 17th March 2013 for our 10th place match which was Ding Junhui against Neil Robertson in the final of the PTC Grand Finals in Galway. Even though the match was only a best-of-7 frames contest it produced an absolutely epic clash between 2 players that have been giants of the game in 2013.

So let's have a look back at this magical evening in Ireland:

Ding Junhui Vs Neil Robertson

Ding Junhui was in first in the final with a nice long pot to give himself the first scoring chance of the match. He’d made 41 when he ran out of position after potting a tricky black, and was forced to play safe. Neil got in with a nice long red of his own after a small safety battle, and after a good blue to the corner he was in with a great chance to take the opening frame. Once he developed the last red from the cushion it became an excellent chance, which Robertson took with a break of 88 to lead 1-0. Robertson was in first again in the second frame, with a good red to the middle to get going. Robertson was already on 51 when he played the split to the pack from the black, but he couldn’t get on one and was forced to play safe with his 58 point lead. A brilliant long red soon had him back in with a second opportunity to kill off the frame. That was exactly what he did with an additional 22 stopping Ding from coming back to the table, and giving the Australian a 2-0 advantage. Neil Robertson was first in again in the third frame, after potting a good red to the middle, but could only make 12 after failing to get on a red after splitting the pack from the blue, which was really unlucky. Robertson missed a long red in dramatic fashion shortly afterwards, as the red wobbled and came off of the table. Another missed long red from Neil shortly afterwards cost him, as Ding was left right in amongst the reds. A good split of the reds on 41 from the blue left Ding with all the balls open to get his first frame on the board. However, the mistake came shortly afterwards as Ding missed a red with the rest on 51, leaving Robertson with a great opportunity to counter. That was exactly what Robertson did as a break of 60 was enough to put him 3-0 in front and only one frame from taking the PTC Grand Finals title.

Ding really needed to improve and fight back if he was going to win this title now, and an early Robertson miss of a red to the green pocket left Ding in with a chance, a good red to the green pocket early on kept the break going and he picked the reds off nicely at the beginning of the break until he left himself a tricky red to the middle on 52, which he just missed. When Robertson missed another red to the green pocket in similar fashion though, Ding was back in again and already with a healthy advantage in the frame. A nice plant on 15 just stopped Robertson coming back to the table, and a further 70 made sure that Ding got his first frame on the board and stayed in the match at 1-3. But was this the start of a brilliant comeback? Well, Ding was first in again in the fifth frame with a brilliant long pot to get on the blue as well, giving him a brilliant opening to score, and score was exactly what he did, making a magical 130 total clearance to close to within a frame of Neil who hadn’t had a chance since going 3-0 up, at 2-3. A poor safety from Neil early in the sixth frame, gave Ding another early scoring occasion. Although, it didn’t amount to much as Ding was forced to play safe on 9 after failing to split the black away from the reds near it’s spot. After a long safety battle after this, Ding made the first mistake to give Neil his first opportunity to try and win the match. He’d got to 44 before he played a poor positional shot to get on the next red and had to play safe with a 30 point lead. A missed pot attempt from Robertson, left the Chinaman in with a chance to close the gap in the frame, or even possibly win it. Some good pots on the final reds put him 6 points ahead going down to the colours, but when he massively overdone his position on the yellow, ending up snookered on it behind the green, bringing on a vital battle on the colours. After an exchange of fluked snookers from both men, it was Robertson that was unable to get the yellow safe from one of Ding’s fluked snookers, with Ding potting the yellow, green, brown, blue and pink to confirm that we would be heading into a deciding frame at 3-3.

Neil missed a long red early in the seventh and final frame, and Ding potted a nice red to the yellow pocket to get going, and give him the first proper opening. A brilliant split of the reds on 14 from the blue gave him a brilliant chance to win the match at that visit. That was exactly what Ding did as he manoeuvred through the reds brilliantly and only an in-off from the black on 98 stopped him finishing the match with a century, but Ding didn’t mind as he had a fist pump of his own and banged his chest to show what this win meant to him. It was truly a brilliant performance from Ding Junhui, to come back from 3-0 down to win 4-3 and one that is worthy of “classic” status.

What a match that was, and you know the rest of the countdown is going to be good when this only just made 10th place, with some brilliant break-building and a terrific comeback from Ding Junhui, producing a good advert for the short format. Did you enjoy that? Then be sure to return tomorrow on the very eve of Christmas to find out who enters the countdown in ninth place.