China News Service, Yushan, Jiangxi, March 24 (Reporter Wang Zumin) After more than 4 hours of hard battle, Chinese billiards star Ding Junhui defeated "Melbourne Machine" Neil Robertson 6-5 and advanced to the 2024 Snooker World Open. In the final of the tournament, he will compete with Trump, who is ranked second in the world, for the championship.
On the 23rd, the semi-finals of this World Open were held in Yushan, Jiangxi. The game was a best-of-11 game. The battle between Ding Junhui and Robertson took place in the evening of that day.
Ding Junhui and Robertson have played against each other 20 times before, with Robertson having the upper hand with 11 wins and 9 losses. But before this campaign, the "Melbourne Machine" failed this season. Robertson, who was among the top five in the world last season, fell to 15th. Ding Junhui, who entered the British Championship finals and the World Grand Prix semi-finals, is currently ranked ninth in the world. .
As the tournament progressed, Ding Junhui gradually got better and defeated Grand Slam winner Sean Murphy 5-3 in the 1/8 finals, ending his 11-year winless streak against the latter; in the 1/4 finals In the match, Ding Junhui defeated Iranian star Hussein Wafi 5-0 and became the favorite to win this event.
But compared with the rapid progress in the previous round of competition, Ding Junhui was shocked every step of the way in this campaign. At the beginning of the game, Ding Junhui took the lead and won the first game with 64 points on a single stroke. Robertson then won 3 consecutive games and entered the halftime break with a 3-1 lead.
After returning from a short rest, Ding Junhui launched a strong counterattack. After winning 3 consecutive games, he took the lead 4-3, including a difficult single shot of 75 points in the 6th game. But Robertson scored two more games and took the lead in getting the match point at 5-4.
At the critical moment, Ding Junhui faced the challenge calmly and scored 68 points on a single stroke to tie the score at 5-5. The deciding game fell into a long struggle after Robertson first scored 53 points on a single stroke. In the end, Ding Junhui achieved a reversal of the game with a score of 70-56, sealing the victory with a total score of 6-5. After the British Championship, he advanced for the second time this season. Ranking finals.
Looking forward to the final after the game, Ding Junhui said: "Try to win the championship. I haven't won it for a long time." However, he said that he would not put too much pressure on himself and hoped to perform better in the final.
In the 2017 Yushan World Open, Ding Junhui won his 13th ranking championship. Now, after more than 4 years of ranking championship drought, Ding Junhui is expected to win his second championship in Yushan and be crowned the 15th ranking champion.
In another semi-final that afternoon, facing the defending champion Trump, Wales' post-2000 player Jackson Page's "dark horse" path failed to continue. He lost 2-6 and stopped in four games. Strong, but this is also the best ranking result in his career.
Trump reached the final for the eighth time this season. He won 4 championships in the first 7 times.
The 2024 Snooker World Open final will be held on the 24th, Beijing time. The competition will be divided into two stages, afternoon and evening, with a best-of-19 game system. (over)