Ding tops fu to win Masters
China’s Ding Junhui was victorious in the first all-Asian major snooker final as he brushed aside Hong Kong potter Marco Fu to win the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters at Wembley Arena.
Ding, who beat former world champions Mark Williams and Graeme Dott to reach the final, swept into a 6-2 lead after the first session with breaks of 120, 74, 61, 57 and 60.
Fu threatened a comeback in the evening session by reducing the deficit to two frames but Ding coolly blasted a 94 and 83 on his way to clinching four straight frames to complete a 10-4 win.
An estimated worldwide television audience of over 100 million viewers watched the victory, which brought Ding revenge for his defeat to Fu in last year’s Asian Games and a winner’s cheque for £150,000.
Ding, who capitulated 10-3 to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2007 final, flew out of the blocks to take a 2-0 lead with breaks of 120 and 74 before a shocked Fu finally registered his first pot 47 minutes into the game.
Fu, 33, then potted the cue ball going for a red but Ding jawed a long shot from baulk and Fu held his nerve to sink a difficult pink to the middle and rack up an 80-break to pull it back to 2-1.
Ding made it 3-1 after a tight fourth with a 61 break before the Chinese star edged the next frame after Fu slammed a risky brown into the jaws.
Fu, knowing that he came back from 4-1 down to beat Mark Allen in the semi-final, managed to claw one frame back, albeit thanks to a huge slice of luck when he fluked a blue on his way to making 82.
The fluency exhibited by both players in the opening stages disappeared as both players missed easy shots in a scrappy seventh eventually won by Ding.
The leader went into the break with a four-frame advantage after clinching the eighth but Fu came out fighting after the interval to grab the next two frames with a 69 and a 56.
Ding, clearly affected by Fu’s revival, looked down and out in the 11th after struggling to get out of a snooker, but an excellent positional shot meant Fu potted the white with two colours left on the table and the 23-year-old cleared up to make it 7-4.
Ding then re-established his four-frame lead with a faultless 94 which included a tight black.
The mid-session interval provided no respite for Fu over-ran on position and Ding moved to within one frame of victory with an 83 break.
Ding crashed in a red from the baulk line to open his account in the 14th before strolling to an 85 break to become only the third overseas winner of the tournament.
