All of a sudden, the Ding Junhui of old is back!
Less than two weeks after being consigned to three qualifying matches just to reach the main draw, having fallen outside the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time in nine years, Ding is on the cusp of winning the event he has craved most.
The 29-year-old stormed through to the semi-finals of the World Championships this morning, crushing Mark Williams 13-3 in another dominant display. It equals his best performances at The Crucible after reaching the semi-finals once previously in 2010/11, however this time he is starting to look very much an unstoppable force.
What’s most remarkable, though, is that no one saw this coming. Since equaling the all-time record of five rankings event wins in a single season just two years ago, Ding has been in freefall – his confidence seemingly at rock bottom as he proceeded to suffer a series of losses to players of far inferior ability.
Incredibly, he hasn’t won a rankings event since his record-breaking year – or even reached a final – with his shock run seeing him fall to 17th in the world rankings on the eve of these World Championships to send him to qualifying.
But it is a different Ding we’ve witnessed at The Crucible. He cruised through qualifying, dropping just seven frames in total in three best-of-19 matches to reach the main draw. And then he scored his most significant victory in years by defeating hot favorite Judd Trump 13-10. It was at this very venue only 12 months ago that Trump crushed Ding 13-4 in an embarrassingly lop-sided contest that highlighted Ding’s struggles at the time.
Ding’s crushing win over Williams this morning was a display of a man once again full of confidence and showing the elite skills that made him a superstar in his home country of China. What a moment it would be if he could go all the way.
