Welsh title joy for China’s Ding Junhui

Ding Junhui defeated Mark Selby 9-6 to land the Welsh Open in Newport late Sunday.

The 24-year-old from China landed his first ranking title of the season, putting a largely disappointing campaign behind him in impressive fashion.

Ding, a World Championship semi-finalist last season, trailed 2-1 early on but hit back to see off ‘The Jester from Leicester’ and pocket the £30,000 first prize.

Selby, who had seen off Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final, registered two century breaks in the first three frames – worth 103 and 124 – as he went 2-1 in front.

Ding missed a pink in the fourth frame to hand his opponent the chance to go three in front but although Selby despatched the pink he failed to follow with the black.

He left Ding with a tough shot for the frame but he made it to level the scores.

From there on Ding took control of the remainder of the afternoon session, winning three of the next four frames to establish a 5-3 lead.

When the players resumed, Selby reduced the deficit to 5-4 with a break of 73, after Ding had missed a brown.

The Chinese player immediately restored his two-frame lead with a break of 83 but then missed a red over a pocket and Selby took full advantage with a 91.

Ding’s first century of the tournament, a 124, meant it was 7-5 at the mid-session interval. The Chinese player maintained the momentum after the break, with a knock of 130 moving him to within a frame of victory at 8-5.

Selby was not finished though, with a total clearance of 145 giving him the highest break of the tournament – and a £1,000 prize to accompany it.

The final frame was a cagey affair but Ding prevailed to land the fifth ranking title of his career.

Selby said: “I missed too many balls. I had my chances but every credit to Ding, he deserves it.

“I probably let him off the hook in the first session, I should have been in front but was 5-3 behind.”

The referee for the final in Newport was Terry Camilleri.

This was the Maltese official’s fourth appearance as referee in a world ranking tournament.