Ding Junhui Vs Joel Walker:
This was the biggest match of Joel Walkers career so far but it didn’t get off to a great start as he left a long red on for Ding Junhui who duly made it, landing on the pink to give him the first scoring chance of the match. He made the most of this chance making a very well worked 74 to take the opening frame and move 1-0 up. A brilliant safety shot earned Ding Junhui the first chance in the second frame, as Walker left an easy red on from the snooker Ding was able to lay. However, he missed the black on 1 and left a good chance for Joel to get his hand on the table at the business end for the first time in the match. Walker settled in immediately and soon made it into a clear cut chance with a 78 to level the scores at 1-1. A missed 3 ball plant at the beginning of the third left Joel Walker a chance with a red over the corner pocket and the black available, so he’d have been hoping to get some useful early points. The young man had gotten to 32 before leaving himself badly hampered on a tough red which he missed and left for Ding, but he could only make 10 before being forced to play safe. After an elongated period of safety and a miss from either player, it was Joel that had the next chance, though he missed a simple red to the middle and handed that chance back to Ding. A 62 this time for Ding was plenty for him to regain his lead at 2-1. A missed long red from Ding early in frame four gave Walker an opening to make some early points, but a cannon on 22 went wrong for him and left him a very tough pot to the top corner pocket which he missed and left over to the middle for China’s No.1. Position from the red was tough and he was only left with a tricky black into the left middle which he just overcooked. A poor snooker escape shortly after from the young man left Ding another chance to build a lead in the frame, but only a further 7 was added before he missed a testing yellow, although he wasn’t made to wait long for his next opportunity, but again very little was added before he screwed in off in the middle pocket. From that ball in hand, Walker knocked in a smashing long red, landing on the pink, but it was only a red and pink that he could pot before missing again. The next opening fell to Ding, and it looked like a good opportunity to win the frame at that visit, until he over hit position on the final red and missed a very thin cut. The safety battle on the final red became of key importance, especially to Joel who was already 12 points behind. It was the former Welsh Open champion who knocked in the final red but he failed to get on a colour for position on the yellow and played safe. After Joel was left a chance at the yellow to the middle a superb clearance followed with super pots on the green and black particularly squared the match up going into the mid-session break at 2-2.
Following the mid-session break I was Joel Walker who had
the first real chance after Ding Junhui missed an already tricky red thanks to
a crunching kick. It soon looked like being a very fruitful visit to the table
and that’s exactly what it was as a break of 74 from young Walker saw him take
a 3-2 advantage in this brilliant quarter-final. An incredibly well picked out
long red got Walker back in straight away in frame six with what was already a
very good chance to score heavy with the reds spread. Once in prime position it
looked like being another frame winning break as Joel started gaining in
confidence, and it was a very impressive century of 101 that put him two frames
in front and one more from the semi-finals at 4-2.
Needing one further frame for victory Walker knocked in
another confident long red to get in again in frame seven, but on 9 he failed
to get through the reds and back onto the black when going into the pack off of
another red, and was forced to head up the table for safety. Joel had the next
chance as well when Ding left him an easy red to the middle, but he only added
8 before missing a red with awkward cueing. The Chinaman played a solid red to
the middle, playing for the pink and all of a sudden things were looking very
inviting for him to make a big break and pull a frame back. However, he
couldn’t land nicely on a baulk colour on 8 and he missed the green with the
rest, but when Walker returned the favour, Ding was straight back to the table
with another great frame winning chance. This time around he made the most of
that opening as a contribution of 52 looked like it would be enough to win the
frame, until he potted the black and went in off leading by 36 now with 43 on
the table. Walker potted the penultimate red with the black to cut the deficit
to 28 with 35 on the table, which meant that the frame was heading to an
important battle on the final red. That was until Ding cooked up a clever
double to the top corner, pulling a frame back to 3-4. A bit of comedy started
frame eight off as Ding Junhui was lining up a safety shot when he marginally
nudged the cue ball which was glued to the top cushion, and Walker asked to
have him put back resulting in some laughter and referee Leo Scullion duly touching the cue ball “back
into place”. It was Ding that had the last laugh though as Joel left him in
after a long attempt. Like all good champions, the 2012 Newport champion needed
to find an extra gear and bounce back to get back into the match and push the
pressure back onto to Joel. Once into the pack on 58 he looked like doing
exactly that and forcing the deciding frame and a superb ton of his own, a 139,
completed the fight back, and sent the match into a decider at 4-4.
Joel Walker potted the first ball of the decider but he
wasn’t nicely on a colour and missed a tough green to pass the early chance
back to his opponent. Once in and around the black spot it looked like a good
opening for Ding Junhui to take a sizeable advantage in this final frame. After
potting a tough black to move the break along to 53, he was back in perfect
position and the reds were nicely position for Ding to win frame and match here
and now. It wasn’t much longer until he was over the line and Ding finished off
in style with consecutive centuries as a break of 104 this time saw him into
the Welsh Open semi-finals with a 5-4 victory over Joel Walker.
Another amazing comeback from Ding Junhui there in February, and he is one man that always seems to find himself in these amazing matches, but all credit to Joel Walker for playing his part and having a great tournament that week in Wales. What other players are we going to have on our list? Well come back tomorrow for day 3 of the countdown to find out who will take 10th place.
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