At 21:00 on the evening of January 8, 2024, Beijing time, the first round of the 23/24 Snooker Masters ushered in the focus battle, and the much-anticipated Ding Junhui O'Sullivan battle started again, and both sides were happy, O'Sullivan was in a burst of state, relying on the super hot hand of 67, 87, 106, 127, and 93 in a single stroke, he defeated Ding Junhui 6-3, and Ding Junhui suffered 5 consecutive defeats in the Masters. But at the same time, Ding Junhui scored a perfect score of 147 in the 7th game, which can be described as a loss and a gain, and everyone is happy.
When Chinese fans talk about snooker, they can't avoid Ding Junhui and O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui is the godfather of Chinese snooker, and O'Sullivan is the leader of world snooker. Ding Junhui has 14 ranking championships in his career, and O'Sullivan has as many as 22 championships in the three major competitions. O'Sullivan is also the most successful player in the Masters, with many records such as the number of championships (7), the youngest champion (under 20 years old), the total number of hundreds (83), the number of single-tournament breaks (8), and consecutive points (556 points). But Ding Junhui also had a brilliant performance in the Masters, in 2004, Ding Junhui won the wild card debut at the Masters, at the age of 16 years and 306 days, becoming the youngest player to participate in the Masters. In 2007, Ding Junhui hit the second shot of 147 in the Masters and reached the final. The final burst into tears on the field and became an indelible memory for Chinese fans. In 2011, Ding Junhui defeated Fu Jiajun in the final and won the first Masters championship.
However, time has passed, O'Sullivan is getting older and more demonic, and Ding Junhui is a little weak. O'Sullivan just won the British Championships, and the final victory was against Ding Junhui, O'Sullivan's "brutality" caused Ding Junhui's 4-year ranking championship drought to continue. The two have played each other 5 times in the Masters, and Ding Junhui was defeated.
Ding Junhui's appearance ceremony tonight is very special, the appearance music turned out to be "Dragon Fist", it seems that the British still understand the Chinese very well, Ding Junhui was born in the Year of the Dragon, and this year is the Year of the Dragon in China. But at the beginning of the game, O'Sullivan was a little puzzled. Both of them are not in good shape, but Ding Junhui is in even worse condition, with more control of the white ball and his own mistakes, Ding Junhui lost two games in a row 27-100 and 37-74, basically losing to Anji.
In the third game, Ding Junhui scored 32 points and turned to defense, and O'Sullivan scored 87 points in a single stroke on the long platform to win. 3-0。
In the fourth game, Ding Junhui's defense leaked the ball again, and O'Sullivan won another game with a single stroke of 106. 4-0 going into halftime.
After coming back from the break, in the crucial 5th game, O'Sullivan scored 59 points and made a simple mistake, and Ding Junhui finally pulled back a game 61-59. 4-1。 In the 6th game, Ding Junhui scored 92 points in a single stroke to win another game. 4-2。
In the 7th game, Ding Junhui seized the opportunity to get started and achieved a single stroke of 147. This is Ding Junhui's first stroke in nearly 8 years, and he finally scored the 7th perfect score of 147 in his career, which is also the 4th perfect score in the history of the Masters, and Ding Junhui alone has 2 strokes! It is also the 6th stroke of the season and the 195th single stroke 147 in history.
Then O'Sullivan scored 127 points in a single stroke in the eighth game to take the lead in getting the match point, and in the ninth game, O'Sullivan scored 93 points in a single stroke to lock in the game. In the end, Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Ding Junhui with a score of 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
It's a pity that Ding Junhui failed to end the losing streak against O'Sullivan in the Masters, nor did he avenge the British Championship finals, but there is a long way to go, Ding Junhui, who got 147, please leave with his head held high. Congratulations to O'Sullivan, who has reached the last 8 of the Masters, where he will face the winner of the match between Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins in the next round. O'Sullivan will continue to bring us the most wonderful snooker!
In the first round of the Masters, Ding Junhui lost to O'Sullivan
Ding Junhui lost again, but please don't blame Ding Junhui, after all, Ding Junhui's opponent who lost was the world's No. 1 O'Sullivan. I remember someone said: Ding Junhui is the only person in China who does not need to be trained by the state, and is self-taught by selling houses and shops at home, but he has won glory for the country. Ding Junhui is the founder and guide of Chinese snooker, without Ding Junhui, there would be no vigorous development of Chinese snooker, and the development of Chinese snooker and the promotion of snooker in the world are definitely one of the biggest contributors. 14 ranking tournament champions, 4 championships in three major competitions, five championships in a single season, 7 strokes 147, the youngest Mr. 147 in history, more than 600 strokes to break 100. Member of the World Snooker Hall of Fame. It can be said that Ding Junhui when he was young fought against the entire British Isles by himself. China's existing players are comparable to Ding Junhui's achievements, and how many players in the world do not admire Ding Junhui. Competitive sports are like this, there are wins and losses, peaks and valleys. As always, we support that little Ding and believe that he will return to the top one day.