Stephen Lee fumes about a cell phone ring as Ding Junhui trounces him in quarters: 2012 Welsh Open
A tussling quarter-final encounter was dominated by the Chinese top potter, Ding Junhui, as he triumphed over England’s Stephen Lee by the score line of 5-4 after a topsy-turvy affair that ended in the deciding frame.
However, Lee believes that his concentration on the match was disturbed by a cell phone ring during the last frame which cost him the match.
The Lee-Junhui quarter-final encounter was a tussling affair as both cuemen went neck and neck until they dragged the game into a decider frame. Junhui produced his class after he was pushed two frames down and grabbed the game lead until Lee caught up to
the Chinese quickly and took the match into the deciding set.
The 37-year-old Lee breezed into a 2-0 early lead and was at the edge to unsettle his opponent when the Comeback Kid, Junhui, proved his class and took back-to-back frames wins executing two massive breaks of 66 and 85 to pull level at 2-2. The Chinese snatched
the lead with another double-frame win but before he could do more damage, Lee bounced back and equalised at 4-4 clinching seventh and eighth frame.
The Chinese Sensation was dominating the final frame when he missed a shot to let Lee come at the table. The remaining balls on the table were open for the Englishman and he was ready to take his glory. Unfortunately, when he swung back his cue stick to
play the shot, a cell phone went off in the stands and he lost his focus in that friction of a second to miss an easy green. His missed target cost him the final frame and he lost a crucial match.
Lee explained after the game, “The phone went off just as I was on my back-swing and I couldn't stop. That's the first time it has happened to me at such an important moment in all the years I've been playing. I am fuming. We both had plenty of chances in
the last frame but we both played awful.”
Junhui, on the other hand, added, “It was unacceptable. He was very unlucky and otherwise he could have won the match.”
However, the Star of the East, Junhui, has surged into the penultimate stage of the tournament where he will be meeting England’s Shaun Murphy.
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