Ahead of the International Championships starting in Daqing, China on Sunday, I have looked back over the past five years of this tournament to pick out my top five matches in the events history.
A few of these were so good that they made it on to my old "Classic Matches" yearly countdowns and each one was a memorable tussle during the latter stages of what is becoming one of the great tournaments on the snooker calendar.
Featuring in the countdown is a black ball decider, big comebacks and part of Ding Junhui's ranking event winning streak from 2013.
5th: Marco Fu Vs Joe Perry - 2013 - The first match in the list takes us back to a thrilling semi-final in the 2013 edition where Fu was a narrow winner. Perry got off to a good start though in the first session of this best-of-17 frame affair, taking a 5-2 advantage with high breaks of 83 and 72 in the process. Fu took a scrappy final frame of the session to limit his damage and this would prove crucial as he only went into the break just 5-3 adrift.
When Fu came back out in the evening and won all of the first three frames, with a break of 88 in frame eleven, he was suddenly out in front at 6-5 and Perry was the man needing to dig deep. He needed to address the slide and get himself back on terms with Fu going into the mid-session interval and there was no better way to do it than the break of 103 that followed, making it 6-6. A tight thirteenth frame then went to Perry on the colours as he edged in front once more, but Fu hit straight back with a run of 70 to make it 7-7. Fu then took the next to move 8-7 ahead but Perry took the sixteenth and made sure this match got the deciding frame it deserved. Both players had chances in what was a nervy decider that fitted much of the rest of this contest, but it was Fu who held strong and took it on the colours to put his name in the final.
4th: Mark Williams Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2014 - This match made it into seventh place in my "Classic Matches Countdown" for 2014, and you can click the link above to see the full in-depth write-up it was given back then. The major context to this one of course is Williams poor record over O'Sullivan in big matches, with his last big match win prior to this coming in the semi-finals of the 2002 Thailand Masters.
On this occasion it was a quarter-final at the International Championships, though to start with it sincerely looked like Williams poor run against the Rocket was set to continue. Both players had chances in the opening frame, but after winning the safety battle on the last red, O'Sullivan went 1-0 ahead. That lead was soon doubled thanks to a 65 break in the second, and although Williams had a commanding lead in the third frame O'Sullivan would go on to clear and make it 3-0 and desperate times of the Welshman.
A clearance of the last four reds in frame four gave Williams a much needed frame on the board to go into the interval just 1-3 behind. A match high break of 120 followed the break and the left-hander was just one adrift. That did not last long though as Williams got himself with a run of 59 on the way to a 3-3 scoreline. It just kept getting better for Williams as he punished O'Sullivan in the seventh to lead for the first time before a run of 77 in the eighth put him one away from victory at 5-3.
O'Sullivan was never going to roll over and he hit back with a 72 break to take the ninth while a couple of misses for Williams then proved costly as the match was suddenly into a deciding frame with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs. A break of 50 early in the decider gave Williams control and he would quickly finish the frame thereafter to score a memorable 6-5 victory ending his run of bad results against O'Sullivan.
3rd: Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy - 2016 - It was also at the quarter-final stage when another classic Trump Vs Murphy clash came about. The pair have previously played out a fantastic World quarter-final in 2013 and my favourite ever best-of-7 frame match (there isn't a long list in that category) in the Ruhr Open semi-finals back in 2014.
There was never more than a frame between the pair in the early stages of this one, with Trump taking the opener before Murphy stole the second to level the contest. In the third frame, the left-hander made the first of three centuries for him in this contest as a swift 102 sneaked him back in front, before Murphy squared the match going into the mid-session break with the first of four breaks for him in the 70's, a 76 on this occasion, making it 2-2.
Trump flew out of the blocks after the break with another well compiled 100 to go a frame up for the third time in the contest. However, after that Murphy dominated the next spell of this fascinating tussle, wading in with a 77 to level at 3-3, while a 75 in the seventh put him in front for the first time. That was followed again by a 70 contribution in frame eight that put the Magician two clear, the first point in the match where there was more than a frame between the players, and crucially Murphy was also a frame away from victory at this stage.
Trump was not fazed by being on the brink of defeat, and he certainly wasn't in that position for very long. The next two frames were seen off in one visit by Trump as he followed up a 74 in the ninth frame with his third century and the highest of the match, a 119, to force the deciding frame. After all of this back and forth with big breaks, the deciding frame was a very close and dramatic affair. Trump led early on in the frame but Murphy came back into it well and would eventually formulate a lead of 19 before playing safe on the yellow, and would still lead by ten when the pair battled on the blue. Trump would go on to pot blue and pink but hit the bump of the middle coming down for the black, leaving him nowhere and making it a black ball battle for the match. Trump had the first attempt, trying to cut it in from range but that left a long shot for Shaun, but he blazed it wide and left a simple tap in for Trump to take out the match.
2nd: Ding Junhui Vs Marco Fu - 2013 - In the runners-up spot in this weeks countdown is the 2013 final between Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, which made it into fifth place on my "Classic Matches of 2013" countdown, an old piece you can view in full by clicking above.
The match itself was a tight one that went right down to the final frame, after there had been no more than two frames between the two throughout the match. There was also some amazing scoring between the two who made seven centuries between them in the 19 frames played, along with a further six 50+ contributions.
Fu did lead 2-0 early on, backing up a tight opening frame success with a marvellous 128 in the second frame. Ding hit straight back with the first of his five match centuries, a 108, but Fu would still go on to lead 3-1 in the first mid-session break. For the next four frames after the break Ding put on a masterclass of snooker as Fu only scored six points in a period that saw his opponent make breaks of 92, 126, 127 and 138, but when Fu took the last frame of the session it all meant that, despite his superior scoring, Ding only led 5-4.
Straight off the bat in session two was another Ding century with a 108 putting him 6-4 in front. Then Fu took three frames on the trot with breaks of 105 and 71 thrown in as he regained the lead at 7-6. The next four frames saw them go blow for blow. Ding hit back 65, before Fu's 81, Ding then dominated the sixteenth to level at 8-8 but Fu won a tighter seventeenth to move one from the title at 9-8. A contribution of 58 was enough for Ding to force the decider, in which he took his first chance compiling a break of 91 to win his third successive ranking title, and leave Fu agonisingly short of glory.
1st: Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams - 2014 - This countdown would not be complete without a throwback to the 2014 semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams. One of my favourite matches of recent years, the heavy scoring and nail-biting action saw it jump right to the top of my "Classic Matches of 2014" countdown, a piece you can view in full by clicking the above link.
In 17 total frames, there were 14 breaks of above 50, four of which were centuries in this all left-handed battle. The bar was set high from an early stage when the first four frames were shared at 2-2, Allen winning the opening two with breaks of 92 and 71, before Williams quickly came back with consecutive centuries of 120 and 135. Allen was in front again at 3-2 and could have gone further ahead but Williams won the sixth on the pink to make it 3-3. The Northern Irishman still took an important stride forward by taking the final two frames of the session, with breaks of 105 and 55, putting him 5-3 in front when they came out for the evening session.
Allen then came straight out of the blocks with a one-visit frame to move further clear, a run of 77 making it 6-3 and opening up a big margin for the first time in the match. A solid 84 from Williams in the tenth kept him in it, although Allen soon restored his three frame lead with a 67 break assisting him in making it 7-4. The Welshman was not done though and he took the two frames either side of the mid-session interval to get to within one at 7-6 and then pressed on and punished Allen with another century, 102 this time squaring the scores at 7-7. The fifteenth frame was a massive one in the context of the game. After winning three in a row, Williams had Allen needing snookers or else it would be four in a row and put the two-times world champion one frame from the final. Allen got the snooker though and made a key clearance to move 8-7 ahead himself and halt Williams in his tracks.
Williams response was a perfect one as forced the decider in one-visit with no reply from Allen. A run of 86 made it 8-8 and still meant that Williams had won four of the last five frames to come back to that point, though he could have had all five. The final frame certainly did not lack drama and both players had plenty of chances in the frame. The big one fell to Williams in the second half of the frame, but he missed a tricky final red along the cushion, and all of the remaining balls were there for Allen who was able to put himself in the final.
For me, that is certainly a match worthy of number one on this list, and I'm sure there will be many more memorable matches as the eight days of snooker unfolds in the 2017 International Championships.
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