Ding Junhui Wins 5-4, Defeating Trump in Thrilling Finale at the Masters: From a 3-1 Lead to a Big Comeback of 5-0
At 1:18 am Beijing time on January 18th, the 2025 Snooker Masters continued. In a focus match of the quarter-finals, "China's No. 1" Ding Junhui missed a good opportunity. He was leading 3-1 but suddenly lost his accuracy, losing five consecutive games and eventually losing 3-6 to world No. 1 Trump. In the first round, Ding Junhui eliminated Williams with a score of 6-5.
The Snooker Masters is one of the three major snooker events, which all players attach great importance to. Last season, "China's No. 1" Ding Junhui made a maximum break of 147 points in the competition, but unfortunately lost to his old rival "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan in the end.
In this year's Masters, Ding Junhui encountered another old rival, "Accuracy King" Trump. In the first round, Ding Junhui reversed and eliminated Williams, one of the "Three Musketeers of the 1970s and 1980s," with a score of 6-5.
In the first game of this match, Ding Junhui took the lead by scoring several times, winning 75-35 and leading 1-0. In the second game, Williams fought back through piecemeal play, winning 72-17 and leveling the score to 1-1. In the third game, Ding Junhui scored a single shot of 69 points, winning 76-48 and leading again at 2-1.
In the fourth game, Williams scored a single shot of 57 points, winning 60-23 and leveling the score to 2-2 again. In the fifth game, after a short intermission, Williams continued to exert force, scoring another single shot of 70 points, sealing Ding Junhui with a score of 78-0, and overtaking the score to 3-2.
In the sixth game, Ding Junhui scored a single shot of 64 points, sealing Williams with a score of 64-45, bringing the score to 3-3, and both sides leveled again. In the subsequent games, after drawing 4-4, Williams won the match point with a score of 5-4. In desperate circumstances, Ding Junhui; he won two consecutive games to reverse Williams with a score of 6-5.
In the quarter-finals, Ding Junhui challenged Trump, who had already won three championships this season. The latter eliminated Barry Hawkins in the first round with a score of 6-2. In the past, Ding Junhui had fewer wins than losses against Trump. However, before the Masters, in the Hangzhou exhibition match and Lhasa Plateau Challenge, Ding Junhui defeated Trump 5-4 consecutively and won the championship. In this confrontation at the Masters, Ding Junhui led 3-1 at the beginning, but unfortunately did not seize the opportunity and was reversed by his opponent with a score of 6-3.