In this morning's tour quarter-final, Ding Junhui relied on an invincible performance of 116 to break 100 and 9 to 50+ to defeat top seed Allen 10-5 to advance to the semifinals.
In this battle, Ding Junhui gained a lot, not only ended the two-game losing streak against Allen, rewrote the long-game winless record, but also became the 7th man in 100-year history, just need to beat Ryan Day again, you can return to the top 16 after two years, straight to Cruzburg.
Two consecutive defeats in the season, no wins in long games
In the 22/23 season, Allen soared to the sky, dominating the first place with two championships and one runner-up, and Ding Junhui encountered Allen twice and lost miserably.
The first was the final of the British Championship, Ding Junhui after a 6-0 clean sheet against the Rockets all the way to the final, facing Allen, in the first 6-2 good start, the second stage was like sleepwalking, was played by Allen 8-1, 7-10 defeat.
The two met again in the second Northern Ireland match, with Ding Junhui also ruthlessly beating Allen 4-3 after leading 3-1 match points.
In his career, Ding Junhui and Allen have only met twice in long-game competitions, both in the British Championship, and Allen won both times. The earliest was in the last 16 of the 2010 British Championships, when Allen beat Ding Junhui 9-8.
Today's battle, Ding Junhui can be described as full of gains, which can be called a great victory.
Tied Murphy with a 616 and broke the hundred, tied for 7th all-time
In the third game of the first half, faced with a situation of 0-2 behind, Ding Junhui got the upper hand and shot a single 116 to break the first 100 in the game, which was also the 616th break in Ding Junhui's career, with which Ding Junhui successfully equaled Murphy's breaking 100, and the two tied for the 7th man in history to break 100.
Back to the top 16 and straight to the World Championships
In the third round of the 2021 British Championship, Ding Junhui lost three consecutive games after playing a single 134 points, and Ding Junhui, a three-time champion of the British Championship, lost 3-6 to 55th-ranked Craigie. In the post-match ranking, Ding Junhui fell out of the top 16 to 25th, which was also the second time in his career to fall out of the top 16 after Ding Junhui entered the top 16 ranking for the first time in the 06/07 season, setting a 15-year low.
Since then, Ding Junhui has not been able to return to TOP16.
In the 22/23 season, Ding Junhui's form gradually recovered, and although he did not have a ranking tournament title, he was ranked 5th highest in the season. Until the WST Classic, the god of luck patronized again, and Ding Junhui, with the help of Pang Junxu, retained the 8th place of the season and was able to participate in the tournament.
In the first match, the top seed Allen, Ding Junhui was determined to win, and he successfully advanced with a 10-5 victory, which also greatly improved the ranking.
In the next round, Ding Junhui will face the winner between Ryan Day and Selby on Friday, Ryan Day is currently 18th, if Ryan Day is out, or Ding Junhui defeats Ryan Day, he will be in the top 16 and will get a ticket to the World Championship.
In 3 days, the suspense will be officially revealed, let's look forward to it together.