Marcu Fu through to Players Final

Both players made a shaky start to the best-of-11 semi-final but Ding took control of the opener with a break of 99 before a tight second frame needed a respotted black to separate the two.

A mistake by the Chinese player let Fu level the scores before he went ahead with a wonderful 106 clearance but the Hong Kong cueman let a 55-2 lead slip as world number five Ding responded with a brilliant 54 break to level it at 2-2.

Fu took the next to regain the lead before Ding won the next three frames to put him one away from victory - including runs of 59 and 72 - but the world number nine hit back with a clearance of 61 to extend the match into a 10th frame.

Fu fought back to level at 5-5 and take it to a decider and then produced a confident 98 clearance to seal his third successive frame and a place in the final.