UK Snooker Championship 2023: Mark Allen is defeated 6-5 by A player in snooker game.
With this victory, Ding gets some payback for the Northern Irishman’s 10-7 victory in York last year, when he overcame a 6-1 deficit.
With the aid of breaks of 67, 106, and 60, Allen had taken a dominating 4-2 lead.
But Ding of China won the final four frames to ensure his win.
The three-time UK champion Ding told BBC Sport, “I wasn’t feeling so good, so I didn’t put any pressure on myself.”
“I’ve taken several pills and seen the doctor. I felt like I might not be able to play this morning and that I couldn’t stand. Before the game, I felt a little better. I was considering giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
After overcoming Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham 5-1, Ding, the English seed, made an incredible comeback to win and will now play Tom Ford in round two.
Saengkham dominated an early high-scoring match with three century breaks, but they crucially squandered multiple chances to seal the victory. And that made it possible for 40-year-old Ford to steal the win and improve his prospects of making his professional debut at the Masters in January.
Mark Williams progressed as well, defeating Fan Zhengyi 6-4. Following the world number 60’s stunning upset over England’s Kyren Wilson in a match that went the full distance, he will face Jamie Clarke.
Wilson, who was ranked 52 spots higher than Clarke, allowed a 5-1 lead and a 50-point lead in the seventh frame to evaporate, allowing the Welshman to meet his countryman in the round of 16.
Two-time champion Although Williams’ 22-year-old Chinese opponent, whose break of 130 in the penultimate frame was the match’s high point, was not playing at his most fluid, his greater experience showed.
“I felt like I won well. Williams remarked, “I didn’t play too well and am just happy to get through.
I haven’t had much luck with this competition the past couple years. I had to stop every few frames last year after dozing off on live TV once during COVID. This time, in between games, I’ll return home and attempt to lift the UK’s curse.
In the Allen victory, Ding defies the odds.
Ding hasn’t won a ranking title since his victory at the Barbican Center four years ago, but his impressive comeback against world No. 4 Allen, even if he was feeling under the weather, highlighted his continuing class.
The 36-year-old looked defeated as he slumped in his chair, trailing Allen 4-2. Allen had to advance through qualification when he fell just outside of the world’s top 16.
The likelihood of a Ding comeback seemed slim because Allen was displaying the kind of form that enabled him to defeat Judd Trump 10-3 in the Champion of Champions final.
But a 79-run break cut his deficit to 4-3, and Ding won 5-4 after again taking advantage of mistakes to amass 63 and an incredible 70.
After another missed black in the next over, Allen made a seventy of his own, setting up a final-frame decider, but Ding’s magnificent century sealed the victory.
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