On the evening of January 8, the 2024 World Snooker Tour Masters was staged in London, England, and in the first round of the focus match, Chinese star Ding Junhui faced off against England's O'Sullivan. In the fourth meeting between the two in the past month or so, O'Sullivan won again, winning 6-3 and advancing to the top 8. Although Ding Junhui lost O'Sullivan twice in three major tournaments this season after the British Championships, in the 7th game of the game, Ding Junhui scored a perfect score of 147, which is also the 7th perfect score of his career after nearly 8 years.
Ding Junhui and O'Sullivan are old rivals in the professional arena, and the appearance of the "Ding Olympics" can always attract the attention of many fans, especially in China, countless Ding Junhui fans and "rocket" fans, a real snooker visual feast. In the final of the British Championships not long ago, the first event of the three major tournaments of this season's Grand Slam, Ding Junhui lost to O'Sullivan 7-10 in the fourth final trip, ranking second for two consecutive years, and failed to break the championship drought that has lasted for 4 years.
Although Ding Junhui failed to win the championship, his form rebounded in the competition, and the world ranking returned to the top 16, and he won the ticket to the Masters again after two years, which is also good news. In the following season break, Ding Junhui and O'Sullivan staged two "Ding Olympics" exhibition matches in Macau and Lhasa, and the two won one game each, especially in Lhasa, when Ding Junhui fell behind 0-5 at the beginning, he won six games in a row, and finally staged a reversal with a score of 6-5.
As the most important professional event at the beginning of 2024, Ding Junhui and O'Sullivan met again, starting the fourth meeting between the two in the past month or so. After the opening, O'Sullivan felt very good, and successively scored 67 points in a single stroke, 87 points in a single stroke and 106 points in a single stroke that broke 100, and won four games in a row, leading 4-0 into the intermission.
However, after returning from the intermission, Ding Junhui began to rebound, scoring 56 points in a single stroke, 92 points in a single stroke and the super dazzling moment in the seventh game, with a full score of 147 again, winning three games in a row, chasing the big score to 3-4. It's a pity that in the next two games, Ding Junhui failed to seize the opportunity, O'Sullivan won with one shot in a row, 127 points in a single stroke and 93 points in a single stroke to lock in the victory, and beat Ding Junhui again with a big score of 6-3 and advanced to the top 8 of the Masters.
Although Ding Junhui failed to break through O'Sullivan's fate level again in the first round of the Masters, he contributed a perfect score of 147, which is of great significance. This is Ding Junhui's seventh career shot of 147 after nearly 8 years, and it is also the seventh shot of this season. According to the competition system, if no one plays 147 in the follow-up, Ding Junhui will exclusively enjoy the prize of 15,000 pounds for the highest score in a single stroke.
In addition, according to the new rules of the World Snooker Tour, a player who scored 2 shots of 147 in the three major tournaments in a single season is expected to receive a full score bonus of up to 147,000 pounds. In the previous British Championships, Chinese player Xu Si scored 1 shot, and now Ding Junhui also hits, and the two Chinese players only need to score 1 more shot at the World Championships at the end of the season to win the big prize.