In the final qualifying round of the German Masters, although Ding Junhui of China chased three consecutive games after falling behind 1-4 to equalize the big score, he did not play well in the tiebreaker, and made a fatal mistake in the final moment of defense, and was defeated by his opponent, unfortunately missing the main match.
The second qualifying round of the German Masters featured Ding Junhui facing Matthew Stevens the "Welsh Dragons", who reached the World Championship final twice in 2000 and 2005, but unfortunately lost. In the first round of the German Masters, Stevens performed well again, sweeping Hendry 5-0 and showing good competitive form. The current world ranking, Ding Junhui 38, opponent 60.
In the first game, Ding Junhui scored a 62-point overscore after trailing 0-18 to take a 105-18 lead. I thought that Ding Junhui was in good condition, but I didn't expect that his state suddenly declined after that.
In the second game, Ding Junhui made repeated mistakes and was seized by his opponent, resulting in a 13-62 loss. In the third game, Stevens scored 74 to win. In the fourth game, Ding Junhui started with a defensive miss, which was interrupted after a single 66 shot. Dante Junhui played thickly on the bench, and his opponent took the opportunity to extend the score to 71-0, 9 points above the table. Ding Junhui did not give up, and used the last red ball to defend after scoring 27 points in a row, but unfortunately, he still missed the ball in the defense and lost another game 27-71, trailing 1-3.
In the fifth game, Stevens shot 57 to extend the big score to 4-1, take the match point first, and complete a four-game winning streak.
At the critical moment, Ding Junhui regained his feeling. In the sixth game, Ding Junhui took advantage of his opponent's mistake, took a long hand, scored 59 points on a single shot, and then used defense to cause his opponent's mistake, and was penalized for 8 points, and finally won 76-43. In the next two games, Ding Junhui continued his efforts, scoring 72 and 119 points to save three match points in one fell swoop and drag the game into a tiebreaker.
In the last game, the two fought fiercely from the beginning. Ding Junhui repeatedly failed to advance, leaving the opponent with an opportunity to attack. Stevens, despite his average touch, seized the opportunity to take a 59-7 lead, one point off the table. In the following game, Ding Junhui defended with the last red ball after scoring the 23rd point. After some fighting, Ding Junhui once again made a mistake in the defense and leaked out the right bottom bag. Stevens scored a red goal to complete the winner 60-23. In the end, Ding Junhui lost 4-5 to Stevens and was eliminated.
It can be seen that Ding Junhui once again exposed his 2 major shortcomings: defense and long platform. This is the main reason why he was defeated by Allen in the final of the British Championship.