14/1 pre-tournament selection Ding Junhui ended a five-year wait to win his 15th ranking title with a 10-7 victory over Chris Wakelin in the final of the International Championship in Nanjing.
The Chinese 37-year-old won six frames in a row to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 7-4 lead before holding off a gutsy recovery from his opponent to see out the win in front of his adoring home fans.
It was Ding’s first ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship and is also his second International Open triumph, having sunk Marco Fu to win the tournament in 2013.
Ding was advised at 14/1 by snooker tipster Richard Mann in his pre-tournament preview here.
Wakelin had defied expectations to reach the final and made an explosive start as he targeted only a second ranking title, having also won last year’s Snooker Shoot Out.
The 32-year-old, who struggled to hold back his emotions after his tight semi-final win over Xiao Guodong, reeled off four half-centuries in the first five frames to assume full control.
But Ding hit back, with breaks of 57 and 80 helping him claw back the deficit, before a missed red by Wakelin helped the Chinese superstar fire a further half-century and nudge 5-4 in front at the interval.
Ding extended his lead to 7-4 with back-to-back breaks of 66 and 63 but Wakelin was far from overawed and responded with 82 and 89 to reduce the deficit to a single frame.
After sharing the next two frames it was Ding who made the decisive move, a break of 72 nudging him one frame from victory and a 64 at the second attempt wrapping up his 10-7 win.
