Ding On The Up In China
China’s Ding Junhui moved up to number two on the latest one-year ranking list, after recording a five-frames-to-three win over Gerard Greene in front of his adoring home fans in Beijing.
Despite letting back Greene back into the match after opening up a 4-1 lead, 22-year-old Ding eased over the line with a break of 107 in frame eight, his second century of the match.
The scoreline flattered to deceive Northern Ireland’s Greene, who despite making a 73 break in the opening frame, could only manage a highest break of 24 in the next seven.
The Chinese number one, who carries the nation’s expectations whenever the World Snooker Tour comes to China, moves ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan in the one-year rankings, although ‘The Rocket’ has the chance to reverse this position when he starts his Beijing campaign tomorrow.
Elsewhere on Day Two at the Student’s Gymnasium, there were five-frames-to-one wins for Ryan Day over England’s Robert Milkins and Mark Allen against former world champion, Graeme Dott.
74 was the magic number for World champion and provisional number one, John Higgins. The Scot scored that number of points in four of the frames he won. Despite a few wobbles, he claimed a place in the last 16 with a 5-3 win over Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien.
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