Ding Junhui marks history – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship
The Chinese Sensation, Ding Junhui, has become the first Chinese ever to book a place in the semi-finals at the home of snooker, as he defeated Mark Selby by a frame score of 13-10 in the best-of-twenty-five
quarter-final match of the 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship. This event is being staged at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.
The world number three, Selby, who in his previous round demolished the seven-time world champion, Stephen Hendry, crashed out in the last-8. However the world number four, Junhui, on the same note produced
high standards of game to secure a place in the semi-finals for the first time in his career.
The overall score-line between both players was 5-124 (124), 115-12 (53, 58), 96-22 (63), 112-0 (65), 78-47, 0-138 (87), 116-0 (77), 5-74 (74), 121-0 (121), 50-61 (Ding 50), 93-37 (93) 44-92, 104-43, 41-85,
76-0 (76), 64-30, 0-85 (55), 25-66 (66), 0-89 (89), 4-92 (92), 63-61 (Selby 53), 69-41 and 64-54.
Junhui ended his opening session with an impressive 5-3 lead and then he again dominated the second session to take an impressive overnight lead of 10-6. In the third session, however, it was the Jester
from Leicester, Selby, who clawed back, with all of his zeal, energy and strength, and levelled the scores at 10-10.
It was indeed a great comeback from Selby which made it look like as if he is going to secure a place in the next round but it turned into an opposite story when his twenty-four-year-old opponent turned
the tables on his head. He took all the following three frames on a bounce to seal a historical win at the Crucible Theatre.
“It was a big match tonight and when it got to 10-10 I thought I was gone,” said Ding.
“But I told myself to keep strong, The 21st frame was vital and when I won it it heaped the pressure back on him.
Ding Junhui has now set up a potential match against the Bristolian Ace, Judd Trump. It will be a match not to be missed, as Trump has also secured a place in the semi-finals for the first time in his
career.
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