SHEFFIELD: A sombre Ding Junhui breezed into the last 16 of the world championship yesterday, quickly wrapping up a 10-1 win over Stuart Pettman before expressing his sadness over last week’s deadly earthquake in China.
ONE OF THE FAVOURITES: Ding plays a shot at the World Snooker Championship at Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. — AFP photo
Leading 8-1 overnight, Ding wasted no time in booking his place in the second round, where he will face either Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion and last year’s runner-up, or Gerard Greene.
Ding, 23, has been billed as one of the favourites to win this year’s tournament at the Crucible after a season in which he has won more ranking points than any other player.
And he demonstrated why with a break of 88 in the opening frame of yesterday’s brief session before clinching a scrappy 11th frame to complete his win.
As China was observing a day of national mourning for the more than 2,000 people who died in the quake in the northwest of the country, Ding requested that no music was played when the players entered the arena yesterday.
“Lots of people died,” he said.
“I heard the bad news a few days ago and I asked for no music. It was in the north of China and very sad. I saw pictures on the Internet.”
Pettman admitted he had been well below his best.
“I was absolutely shocking throughout the whole game,” he said.
“It’s so disappointing to get here and put in a performance like that.
“You can’t give Ding chances. He’s far too good a player. He won’t let you off.”
Ding admitted he was expecting a much tougher challenge in the second round, in which he clearly expects to face Murphy.
“I don’t know what happened to him (Pettman),” he said. “He was leaving many balls and leaving me easy ones.
“It will be very hard in the second round. Murphy is a good player in attack and safety. Everything is good. He’s not going to leave me easy ones.
“He’s beaten me many times so he’ll have a lot of confidence if he plays me.”
A late-night thriller on Tuesday saw Steve Davis become the oldest winner of a World Championship match for 21 years when he edged out Mark King 10-9 in his first round match, setting up a last 16 meeting with defending champion John Higgins.
Davis, 52, won the first of his six world titles in 1989, the same year that the late Eddie Charlton beat Cliff Thorburn in the first round at the age of 59.
Davis’ match with King, a close friend, went down to the final pink which the younger man potted unintentionally when he needed a snooker.
“Considering I haven’t played much competitive snooker that was like climbing a mountain for me,” Davis said. “I played as solidly as I could even though it wasn’t the greatest, but it was as solid as I’ve been recently, and I got over the line.
“What a feeling. The last frame was torture!” — AFP