Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Ding Junhui 10-7 in UK Championship final
Ronnie O'Sullivan scripted another chapter in snooker's greatest story, winning the UK Championship for an eighth time with a 10-7 victory over Ding Junhui in York.
On a magical night in York's Barbican Centre, O'Sullivan delivered a magical performance in a final that burst into life late in the piece, that after Ding had rallied from 4-1 behind in the afternoon to resume all square at 4-4.
Ding again hauled himself back into the match in the evening, twice in fact, drawing level at 5-5 and again at 7-7, but O'Sullivan had all the answers and finished with three spellbinding frames to roar to glory.
O'Sullivan might have feared he had let his opponent off the hook having raced into a 3-0 lead in the afternoon, producing a couple of vintage counters to take early control, before Ding hit back with breaks 89, 114 and 70 to get out of the session honours even.
But O'Sullivan found his best snooker when he needed it most, leaving behind his struggles from earlier in the week when taken to deciding frames by Robert Milkins and Zhou Yuelong.
With Ding breathing down his neck at 7-7 after the Chinese superstar had taken out back-to-back frames with runs of 52 and 104, O'Sullivan rose to the occasion magnificently by hitting back with his first century of the day, and the cue ball was once again on a string when he followed up with 74 to move within touching distance of the title.
With his long game now purring, O'Sullivan wasted little time in working his way into another frame-winning position, and he looked largely untroubled as he closed out the match with a brilliant 129, his highest break of the contest, amid some raucous scenes in the crowd.
30 years on from claiming his first ranking title at this very tournament at the age of 17, O'Sullivan, who turns 48 next week, was champion again, this time for a record-extending eighth time, further cementing his place as the best player to ever play the game.
“I’m not sitting here with a massive grin and super-excited,” O’Sullivan said afterwards. “I just go through the motions a lot of the time.
“It’s great to win and I give my best when I’m out there and I want to win, but it’s not the same excitement as years ago when I was winning my first world and UK and Masters titles, and you’re buzzing.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a nice feeling and a job well done, but I get more of a buzz from going for a run in the morning or having breakfast with my mate.
“I don’t actually feel like ever playing. Once you get down there you think you’re glad you’ve done it, but even in this match today I was thinking I didn’t feel like it, I’d rather sit on my bed and watch a bit of Netflix. I feel like that a lot of the time.”
Ding, who was also beaten in last year’s final by Mark Allen, reflected: “The first half was disappointing because I had a chance to win more frames but 4-4 wasn’t too bad because I was 4-1 down. I came back to 7-7 but he played so well.
“All I could do was play good safety and make breaks. He just pushed me to make mistakes and it’s all I can do – I can’t do anything else out there.”
Afternoon session re-cap
Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan are locked together at 4-4 in their UK Championship final in York, after the Chinese superstar won the final three frames of the afternoon session.
It was a session that swung one way and then the other, O'Sullivan firmly in control when moving 4-1 ahead and looking on course to establish a big lead, only to be pegged back by Ding who rallied brilliantly.
The three-time UK Championship winner, who had to come through qualifying this year, would have been forgiven for letting his head drop after a disastrous start, twice building decent leads in frames two and three, only for unforced errors to open the door for a pair of vintage counters from O'Sullivan (71 and 91) to go with his opening 71.
Ding did win the fourth frame with a typically pinpoint run of 89 after O'Sullivan had missed to centre, but the Chinese missed another simple black in the following frame and O'Sullivan again made him pay.
However, when O'Sullivan called a foul on himself having grazed the red with the rest, Ding stepped in to reduce his arrears to 4-2, before clearing the table for a break of 114 to close the gap to a single frame.
A break of 70 was good enough for Ding to take the last frame of the afternoon, ensuring O'Sullivan had failed to register a single point in the final two frames.