As the leader of China's snooker, Ding Junhui lost again. In the first round of the World Championships, which ended in the early morning of April 21, Beijing time, Ding Junhui was reversed 10-8 by Brother Wilson in the opening 3-0 lead, and after losing 9-10 to Bingham in the first round last year, he once again encountered a round trip to Crucible. Looking back at the past, Ding Junhui has participated in the World Championships seven times in the past 6 years, and his record from runners-up to one round of travel can be described as a year-on-year retreat, deteriorating, and the situation is not optimistic.
Ding Junhui was no match for Brother Lu
At the 2016 World Championships, Ding Junhui fell out of the top sixteen and could only start from the qualifiers. As a result, he beat Greg Casey 10-4 in three qualifiers, Rose Muir 10-1 and Nijer Erbond 10-2 to advance to the main tournament, showing good form. After the start of the main match, Ding Junhui first made a 10-8 tackle for The Glasses Man Gould to reach the round of 16, then 13-10 Trump, who was in the ascending period, and defeated Uncle Williams 13-3. After reaching the semi-finals, he eliminated McManus 17-11. In the final, he lost 14-18 to Selby and finished second, which was also Ding Junhui's best result so far in the World Championships.
At the 2017 World Championships, Ding Junhui directly participated in the main competition as a seeded player. In the first two rounds of the derby, he defeated Zhou Yuelong and Liang Wenbo 10-5, 13-12 respectively. In the quarter-finals, O'Sullivan won 13-11 to advance to the semi-finals, but in the semi-finals, he met Selby again, losing 15-17, regrettably stopping at the semi-finals.
At the 2018 World Championships, Ding Junhui also directly entered the main competition. In the first two rounds, he defeated Xiao Guodong and McGill 10-3 and 13-4 respectively, but in the quarter-finals against Hawkins, he lost 5-13 and stopped in the quarterfinals.
O'Sullivan on Ding Junhui
Coming to the 2019 World Championships, Ding Junhui entered the round of 16 after defeating McGill 10-7 in the first round, but lost 9-13 to Trump, who was already in his heyday, and retreated from the last eight rounds to the round of 16. After the 2020 World Championships, After Ding Junhui narrowly defeated Mark Kim 10-9 in the first round, he lost 10-13 to the last champion O'Sullivan in the second round, still missing the quarterfinals.
After stopping in the round of 16 for two consecutive years, Ding Junhui continued to decline at last year's World Championships, losing to the second master brother in the first round 9-10 and missing the round of 16, until this year's defeat to Brother Lu was out of the first round again.
Ding Junhui was slightly depressed
In summary, from 2016 to the present, Ding Junhui has played in the World Championships seven times, the results are: runner-up in 2016, final four in 2017, retired to the quarterfinals in 2018, top 16 for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020, and missed the round of 16 for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022. The trajectory is very clear, and the record has continued to decline, which is also in line with Ding Junhui's actual state. Of course, compared to the 47-year-old Rocket, wizard and Uncle Ma, 35-year-old Ding Junhui is still very young and has every chance to return the king. Let's look forward to ding junhui's good news!