O'Sullivan v Ding 2018 FINAL World Grand Prix Snooker

of the world grand prix it's going to be an absolute belter ronnie o'sullivan against ding jin weed the rocket has the advantage in the head a clear advantage at that but most recently ding defeated solomon at the crucible and they've had some pretty close encounters over the last few years so the crowds should be almost ready to go certainly the players are and ready to go in the country box phil yates and neil foles first though to introduce the players rmc john mcdonald thank you ladies and gentlemen a very warm welcome to the guild hall preston 32 players came and now to remain for the grand final of the world grand prix brought to you by world snooker live on itv sport as we welcome the millions of viewers joining us around the world well now ladies and gentlemen our referee in charge of the final and taking part in his fourth world ranking final it's greg cornelio and ladies and gentlemen it's time now to meet the players would you please welcome from china asia's number one and the winner of 13 world ranking events ladies and gentlemen the young talents of ding young [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and now ladies and gentlemen from essex england it's time to meet the player who has won 31 world ranking events he is the five-time champion of the world the rocket rooney [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what a reception that was 25 years ago ronnie o'sullivan walked down those stairs and won the uk championship right here at preston cultural a quarter of a century later he is still going as good as ever back then ding was just about starting school now though he's a formidable opponent it's a head no choice thing to break wait for the queue doing please okay okay i think yes we're okay we're all set to start ladies and gentlemen the first frame ding john weed to break and i'm really looking forward to as you heard from alan and steven hendry both really thinking that this could be the match-up that we've been waiting for and by some margin they've been the two best players the whole week i know that's obvious but it doesn't always transpire that the two best players lock horns in the final two right one thing that tells you they have been the best is that both of these have made a century break at least one century in every match that they've been involved back he may be a little weary after last night but i think as soon as the match starts that'll all be gone it was a typically monumental task to beat mark selby and i think he did very well to do it after maybe some mental scarring having lost in the last two world championships to him in long matches last night just felt a little bit like that didn't it with selby just battling every point ding was up to the challenge really impressed by how he did it yes you made a good point about a previous world championship sometimes when the the juices are flowing fatigue is not a factor and when you play sullivan in the major final the juices let me tell you really do flow especially with ding holding o'sullivan in such high regard they didn't play as a shot to nothing for sure we tried to knock it in the whole high value color it's not an easy opening red whichever one he goes for the one in the middle the blue's not easy to get on with the red next to it either can't run it in onto the blue to the left middle very easily but the ping will go that will interest him surprised he missed obviously he's been starting matches so well [Applause] one in each of his last two rounds ding has been involved in a marathon first frame against anthony mcgill in the quarterfinals it lasted 53 minutes last night was 48. you'd like to win this one decisively and sharpish yes you can just get through to the blue they're the pink rather yes with enough angle stun for that red i don't think we can expect too many 40 plus minute frames in this match we never quite know what you're gonna get but it it would be rare with the players involved this process when the pink spot and all of the other spots are occupied set always takes some time because the referee has to be so accurate eight little bit of nerviness from both players now we'll probably play on the black along the cushion try and get into play the answer is yes what but again you'll have to force this and we're seeing not everything down the cushion go in with any pace this week that's exactly what i'm saying right now i was dropping that in he'd never miss it but just catch the first jaw and they don't drop still get people telling me these pockets are big maybe try playing on them he might get a different view i get the same nil you can't convince people but honestly folks they are really tight and in comparison with club tables i think it's the middles that are most brutal they are cut so harshly one and that didn't even go in cleanly three these two players have a wealth of experience playing in big finals but it doesn't mean they don't suffer from nerves so there are several positives on which ding can draw he's beaten o'sullivan in a ranking event final before 2006 northern ireland trophy six hebito sullivan last year's world championship in the quarterfinals and also he's actually got a better strike rate in converting finals into titles for him in ranking finals he's won 72.2 percent of them o'sullivan 68.8 11. [Applause] well so seems he's gonna have to win this frame without the use of the black i don't see him 70. trying to get on it christina sullivan come unstuck doing that already so he's likely to chip away at other colors if he's playing on the pink here it's just a question of does the pink go on its own spot if so will it be possible i can't quite see from my commentary position because of course you'd like to have that at his disposal 80. and if of course there's a red on it then it'll go onto the black spot which would suit him well it's okay you didn't mean to flick the red on the way through just brushed into one of those now greg coniglio here just well tell us either way yep that's well and truly in danger of course with the time difference it's prime time in china so millions will be watching this and we can't overstate just how popular both of these two players are in the people's republic 38 13 that's very nicely judged beautiful control 45 which of course is an absolute feature of his game and he's at his best 46 keyboard as we said a bit of string not a very long bit of string either now this is just the start he wanted would have hated to allow sullivan to start in the way that he has done in many matches this season just swamping a player early 53. angel weave 53 and the frame the missed pink matter not o'sullivan remains in his chair first blood is drawn by junction way today when we were first on air we were saying that this the ladbrokes world grand prix is an elite tournament well it certainly produced an elite final o'sullivan against ding doesn't get much better than that here's frame two because it's the top 32 players on the season which uh means that uh as great as this event is the winner will be absolutely thrilled 100 000 pounds players chairmanship is the top 16 on the season she's in north wales in a few weeks it was a mighty thin shot had he hit it at all he couldn't afford to hit it too thick and going off or similar ronnie's likely to have a dig at this long red here i think he was very confident of the shot otherwise the keyboard wouldn't have been sent all the way around into bulk one good cue ball tied under that ball cushion normally hitting the bump of the middle pocket isn't recommended in that instance it wasn't too bad from o'sullivan's perspective i don't think ronnie's angled he's quite close left jaw as you can see got a clear path into the reds albeit it's never been much fun playing from the jaws of a pocket he's actually played it very well i think better shot than it looked [Applause] the red will no way get past the black so from the point of view of leaving that one on not the case this one goes though if he fancies it if he feels as though there's any value in it was a little clumsy from ding well it was but there's no evidence right now that sullivan is queueing overly well he's missed a few what you call half chances that he's been absolutely devouring all week in his early days and he's not quite in the zone yet big target in behind the brown i was thinking that and uh one thing knowing it's there but another thing to execute the shot as well as this wheel has done that one so what if there's a way in behind the brown from over on the left here i think that's what he's going to do just chip off this red left side before the middle pocket in behind brown i think his win against jan bingtown sullivan earlier in the tournament his safety was absolutely magnificent in that game and he almost felt that he was just hanging on for some parts because he's playing an opponent who knocks everything in at long range but he can't knock them in if he's not on anything it's hard to see an attacking safety shot here i don't know if you can get up that into that area of the table from where he is now i don't think he can somewhere in where he's curing he isn't particularly threatening but it's about all he's got i think on the safety shot so oh the double kiss stopped him going it off but that's worse than enough very subdued so far yes i think it's a slight concern not a worry yet he made a slow start against maguire also in the semi-finals but right from the moment he missed the pink off its spot in the first frame with the initial chance ever since he's been prone to error of course good spark to life at any moment and if he does you can win four five six frames in the blink of an eye the ding will be encouraged one doing a very different player these days to the raw uncut diamond that came onto the circuit when he won the 2005 china open now he's patient measured and now he's in well not just quite a few times three times at least actually oh sullivan's played a shot and his chalk is falling onto the tape onto the onto the carpet i don't know whether he's going having any pocket problems what this actually played very well played into an area where the number reds weren't potable and you still got a choice of probably three you could play no good news for ding is there's no early fireworks the sting has been taken out of the start of this match a little and he's very much settling better than ronnie o'sullivan very slow walk round to his shot he knows he didn't play that 16 overly well very difficult red that he's looking at here the thin one to the right corner i don't think he can even consider going for it i think he's gonna try and get him behind the brown again that's not a good shot things on me 16. again overcooked cue ball in and out of book that's a serious mistake it's amazing how on the way back you've got a ball in the way like the green there and they seem very wide targets if you're struggling to to play safe one that's annoying phil o'sullivan that's very poor what's happening here the last thing you want to do is have to play this yellow with the rest already recovery shot after one pod [Applause] three better but there's pressure on this one again that was well struck four yes it's an old cliche but there's a lot of truth in it that you never really feel in any match you've got a frame on the board however long the match is i think lonnie's in that position right here what's that killer 17. a given ding plenty of big occasion hurt in the past 10-3 he won their final in the 2007 masters making four sentries including a 143 when ding made his debut at the crucible in 2007 he played ronnie in the first round sullivan beat him 10-2 26 and then the final of the 2014 welsh open 9-3 that was to our sullivan finishing off with a 1-4-7 yes there aren't too many players on the tour not a few battle scars when it comes to playing against this man 33 34. 41. 42. one other runaway with a title at stake o'sullivan beating 7-1 in the final of the premier league in 2011. he owned that tournament the king of the shot clock he was 48. people just jumped a little bit there there's a minor kick which has made 49. almost no difference to the shot check of the score so you'll see black red and any color will be sufficient this was needed 56 his first meaningful contribution 57 in the match he was left with a good chance he immediately run out of position on the first red doesn't use the rest very much but he does he's brilliant with it actually and he's not been in a lot of trouble ever since 64. 65. this is more like it 71 [Applause] o'sullivan with a break of 71 tiger scores best of 19 frames this two session final nine this afternoon ten this evening [Applause] wow well it was thin they're not quite as thin as he played it people absolutely flew into the top left pocket he's left running a typical cueing shot that so far this match has not been going in in fact he's playing the other one to the middle a little bit surprised he played that one because he really had to bite into the cue ball there and get it to miss the bunch and he missed it on the thick side as well so it's always going to swing wider um now sullivan here today could create some more history he's never won four ranking titles in the same season he's best was 2004-5 when he won the grand prix here funnily enough against preston's own ian mcculloch in the final then he won the welsh open and irish masters that season but never before four in one campaign well there the enough for ding would have been preferable yes you might have done quite a bit of damage here i mean everything is set obviously the black if potted might be a little awkward but he doesn't worry about that right now one [Applause] five six well he's on the blue he's kind of naturally just drifting away from the reds touch so he's gonna get past the bottom colors here that's fine 11. that's what 17. well the bottom red of the two that he's looking at would be the more attacking shot he doesn't really have to go down that route if he doesn't want to there's plenty of other it's scattered around i don't play eight i think he's probably taking the better approach here you're not worrying about the black and the reds above it because they used to always say when you can't win a frame in one visit without the black being 20 available but it's proved to be nonsense the skill that is involved at the top level he might be playing on it this time he's changed his mind once again it's one c4 chipping away this is the third time he's looked at this red he's playing it [Applause] that's why he's such a great player that's he ain't he's now got everything going for him 13. he was bridging slightly awkwardly nevertheless that was unexpected he took an extra little bit of time on that he was down on the shot for longer than he'd usually be suggested was just something about it he wasn't happy with one a couple of reds close to cushions particularly the one that's eight uber awkward and by the middle pocket helping out sullivan at the moment or at least hindering ding immaterial though and he didn't just miss that he missed it by a distance the red there caught the cushion rather than the jaw [Applause] well once again overheating cable drifting away from the reds [Applause] eight nine there's a few quite a few mistakes being made here right now a lot of queuing shots some of us miss blacks off the spot into each pocket this frame both pockets it's never been an easy shot when you're trying to screw it with your hand on the cushion rail but it's one you expect him to get one [Applause] and if he has an angle to get that safe red out the one that phil mentioned here probably wasn't the shot but it as we were saying is certainly going to hinder him later on so far behind you'll need that red it wouldn't be an easy red to cannon out either because you could push it beyond the middle bag works out very nicely fine shot 60. big frame this neil o'sullivan would be mortified if he lost it having missed two blocks off the spot it's gonna be fascinating to see how he tries to move that red on the right kitchen foot so we may have a shot on the blue but like i say it'd be very easy to push it out and pass the middle pocket it's really tight against the rail he couldn't play on the double or anything like that so you can take an immense amount of skill oh it's a brilliant effort it really is the page was perfectly slightly ill-directed now i'll be in line with it but it's a difficult shot absolutely superb now it's really on not happy that little exchange first getting the red out and then potting it was absolutely top notch yes probably got here he's not only getting from yellow to green because you're going to cannon the brown but you'd hate the brown to go onto a cushion in doing so he needs it in the middle of the table somewhere 36. you called it neil you called it so dang aid behind that means he needs to clear to pink he doesn't have a great angle on this i think he can just get round in behind the brown sullivan will come back to the table i think johnny 39 well now it's one of those frames where whoever loses it is going to feel a little sick yes that's fine and with the brown not near as cushion it's not the easiest a to hit b2 to keep safe play this but it's not an easy one he could always have it put back if he wanted to it's a great decision i could think of players who might not have done that let didn't go back in there as you saw it was a tricky angle and awkward cueing this is frame ball yes he's kind of scrambled over the line here which didn't seem likely when he got in first [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ladbrokes world grand prix of 2018 ronnie o'sullivan not all that convincing in the first frame he's made a few mistakes since but he leads 2-1 and now looking to kick on yes it's not been vintage for me the player and they're sort of almost jockeying from positions it would seem it'll warm up into a tremendous match i'm sure of that [Applause] again the one ball in the way on the the way back to bulk is the one you hit full on every snooker player watching this will know exactly what that feels like one he's done an awful lot in the last few years has dinged but he hasn't won a ranking title on british soil since the 2012 well joseph six years for him that's a really lengthy drought 12. how does he get uh onto his color for me is the problem with the black obviously completely tied up that's a good effort actually the bottom red is the one that he could get through to this is a thin black keyboard difficult to control as well right that's very unfortunate very unfortunate real sullivan [Applause] well for a split second there o'sullivan was relieved he wasn't on a red now he wishes he had been because the red would have been his okay he's got a tough one but by far from a certainty of this up into that distant ball pocket if he chooses to take it on yes we're not very good cueing either because the red partly in the way of the cue ball very much a distraction on this shot played it well again with every chance by playing on the pink didn't move the keyboard very far so it could be an important little point of the match where dean gets in and has a bad fortune which could take him two frames behind i think when you play one of your sullivan you don't really need to have too much bad luck along the way eight 13. fault 21 22 thought it was okay initially then you could see the body language concern as the cue ball hit the cushion and he was right to be concerned overcooked it yes phil his usual silky touch he's not quite there today oh that's a fine recovery though that will really make you feel better [Applause] how frustrated he felt it makes such a difference if someone like sullivan very occasionally breaks down but he can just pull out a pot and it's all about queuing yeah that red family the second best shot of the match i think psychologically the brownie knocked in at the tail end of the previous frame that was his best so far and then that was his ronnelle sullivan 35 well i'm really surprised by this one i mean this is not difficult for a sullivan i think he played it with right hand reverse side hoping to get the cue ball out that's all i can think of so i would have missed it one now unlike the third frame when things came to the table trying to erase a substantial deficit the balls are sitting pretty no obvious obstacle to a clearance yes i think that red up the table will pop to the top right pocket i'm sure it goes beyond the green and brown 50. otherwise it would be difficult to get on because as you can see the yellow is stopping it from the top left apart from that you're right it's absolutely nothing to worry about here except for the situation itself fact that we're in a final and it would be a nice frame to win to pinch a little bit and that earlier bad luck would not be any relevance 23. put thirty-one well there's been between 36. play it to the middle pocket but again i think you have to call it into the brown here that's beautifully played 37. very slowly but very accurately i don't think you could argue with this scoreline if it did go 2-2 in the mid-session interval i think it would be par 41 and uh both players can certainly play better than they have 43. yes and if it is 2-2 i think the interval will come at a good time for o'sullivan who will be simmering after missing that red that no one could have seen 46 zing 17 ahead so this most straightforward of browns this frame ball [Applause] 55 61. the table has been said for a feast of snooker as the day progresses 68 and afraid at the interval it is ding to o'sullivan and it's probably and ladies and gentlemen please welcome our players ding jong-wee and ronnie old salad [Applause] long-haired [Applause] [Music] more mistakes than expected in the first four frames and more from o'sullivan than from jing thank you frame danger amongst those mistakes uh sullivan missed a couple of blacks off the spot in the third frame but nevertheless won it to lead 2-1 and seemed to be heading for 3-1 until he missed a very easy ball when 30 are in front and left ding in to clear up with 68 and two all yes i think it's fair to say in those first four frames both the players almost made more mistakes than they've made for the previous week certainly i think that would go for ronnie sullivan nice opening [Music] i think for both players i think if they just got in possibly made a century break it would just get them into the into the groove as it were wasn't able to stop the cue ball short of the bulk line so had to content himself with the snooker okay [Applause] so oh ding the light red to the left of the black it might be tempted to play this to left middle it's a shot to nothing a bit careless from dingenwei it's there very very careless [Applause] wonderful show control the cue ball went into the pack and keep keeping the cue ball in the middle of the table i'm pretty sure that this element didn't intend to get on the cue ball didn't intend to get on the black that side but he's perfectly okay as he's so good left-handed [Applause] got a choice of two reds sixty one to right middle one to right corner well that's a sign for me ronnie o'sullivan is not that confident he's not feeling too good in this match because the other red forwarded position on the black he played the easier part night it's what well if you hadn't seen the first four frames normally you would just take it for granted this is virtually frame over so ncfa when sullivan's got the balls in this position [Applause] 26. 33. 34 i think you've got a little bit of a springy bounce the cushion there didn't go on the natural path of the table after making contact with the cushion 42 could we be about to see the first century break of this final any surprise there hasn't been one so far two of the best brake builders in the game are watching here 49. ronnie just had to cut short his pace there the referee didn't get the way in time greg coniglio is the referee refereeing his fourth world ranking final 57 58 65 66. [Applause] a sullivan sure of a 3-2 lead 73 74 and just wants to nail down the 931st century of his career he has said that he would like to reach the thousands 81. 82. and at the present rate of progress he certainly should particularly as there are so many tournaments these days 89 yeah if he keeps up the forum for the rest of the season the amount of nine tournaments still left i expect him to get very close to that 100 mark 97 98. he's on 57 centuries for the season or he will be now that he's popped back 106. so this time once he got in there was no unexpected slip up 109 130 180. 124 currency [Applause] but of course it didn't matter he leads by three thank you frame six ronnie o'sullivan ronnie o'sullivan breaks off having made the first century break of this final but it's not a good break off will that century break spark a barrage of big breaks in the second session not like that there's been been some easy balls missed that's probably the easiest one momentum plays a big part in long frame matches could be the time where it's very much with ronnie o'sullivan could be sensing this is maybe a chance to open up a big lead before tonight's session five six he's overrun his position eight [Applause] wouldn't have left anything if the red hadn't gone in lovely positional shot played with screws lots of right hand side there's a couple of reds available to the left middle but i think ideally we'd like a nice angle on the black to be able to go into the bunch here that's pretty good you could even knock the three reds above the black they could kind of on the right hand side one of them would leave a red to left corner or can in the left-hand side of the three to leave a red to the right corner so he's got options i don't think he'll play with pace actually into the main bunch just be a little cannon now this is going to be an aggressive shot it's not an easy part it's a blind pot which means when he lines up to the red his eye line the pocket won't be in his eye line so these are missable position isn't automatic as you can see he's just pointing his cue the path where the cube will be going into the reds so could cost him the frame if he misses this and you missed it by the proverbial mile dang don't wait 16. very poor effort that one this is a tricky shot [Applause] shot eight nine like all great players o'sullivan is a great predator i think he may have sensed a sign of weakness in his opponent with that last shot particularly yeah i think it's it's a big thing in all individual sports supporting weaknesses and your opponent and sense a bit of unease between runner solving the referee at the moment clive just get that feeling too full well maybe a little bit slow in replacing the balls and as we all know sullivan likes to play at a brisk pace 32. o'sullivan did well scathing indeed in his criticism of another referee after last season's masters semi-final and got into trouble with the strength of his remarks what 41. anyway he's proceeding pretty smoothly in this effort he's frustrated with his cue ball right now sullivan okay he's still going to win the frame in one visit still making the breaks but it's not the actual string that he normally expects 52 but this is a big time in this final for ding jin wee coming up he has to stop this because he could get serious 50 59 6. [Applause] 67 68. so as expected oh sullivan has punished ding's mistake by winning the frame from it well we've got a mix up somewhere with a score because the score that they the break that the referee is calling is not the same that's on the scoreboard 75. it doesn't matter frame's over but someone's made a mistake at some stage well either way there are enough balls left for o'sullivan to complete another century 84. 88 93 99 saints is in consecutive clowns game 131 and 106. ronnie o'sullivan leads vengeance to two i heard greg acknowledge things in the break between frames that he had miscounted towards the end of sullivan's century in the last frame it was 105 rather than 106 although once you've made a mistake and the frame carries on the mistake is condoned it stands [Applause] so sullivan picking up momentum [Applause] five six we all know how well o'sullivan can play how irresistibly he can play 11. he gets into overdrive 12th as he did against zhang in the second round here making four sentries in five frames 90. bit of a problem here in the cannon on the red there makes the black unpottable to the left corner swent wow that was magnificent shot of the day so far for me yeah ding's been on the wrong end of a few heavy losses from ronnie sullivan in the past in long frame matches he knows what's beginning to happen sullivan is the best front runner in the game again though just a slight irritation he missed one of these earlier on having the bridge over missed it to the left-hand jaw which means a slight deceleration safely and didn't have to play that one with as much pace as the previous black he missed 25 oh we've got a massive kick there 36 massive kick which is going to rob him with the chance to make a third consecutive century [Applause] seems to think it was a bad shot [Applause] this talking of heavy defeats ding was beaten 10-3 by o'sullivan in the 2007 masters final in fact the combination of taking such a hammering and getting some abuse from a section of the crowd reduced ding to tears you know sullivan very nicely put an arm around him otherwise i don't think ding wanted to come out for the last frame and that was followed by a 10-2 defeat in the world championship at the crucible a few months later so it took ding a while to actually do himself justice against o'sullivan well this is very very risky well some element of safety i guess screwing back and getting the cube all over the right hand side of the table but not much one definitely a sign of weakness for me that last shot and things young way he showed last night against mark selby how patient it can be and finding the right safety shot the sullivan's bridging somewhat awkwardly so ding's wild or ultra ambitious shot isn't going to cost him that much well ding doesn't need me to tell them how important this visit to the table is context of this final one [Applause] eight very poor shot well he's blaming a big bounce of the cushion but i'm afraid that was just clumsy he's lost a plot a bit at the moment ding jin we he needs to get his composure back quickly or he could lose this final this afternoon enjoying nine and o'sullivan four it's still comparatively early in the match it's only four two no need to panic yet but it appears that he has i have to say the table looks awful at the moment those cushions are bouncing all over the place that ridge should never be anywhere near the middle pocket um what so [Applause] five six so despite highly debatable shot choices and one very careless loss of position ding is still very much in this frame 11. 12. ninety twenty now comes the more difficult part not good 26. can we 26 lost position but back up to only six behind stunning name right for my sullivan though yeah but again another poor safety shot and then jimmy is safe to play last night was just excellent against mark selby and i said he's completely lost focus and you're right clive the long pot was just phenomenal cueing ronnie's just working out he's going to lay a snicker here he just he wants to block out the left-hand side of the table for the escape don't think he has done good shot foreign didn't mean to cannon the black [Applause] considering how he's played in this frame i'm considering how probably he's feeling inside and again that wasn't just seemed to get around very quickly to play the yellow there he had a pink into the right middle okay it was a tougher shot but at least the position would have been automatic engine way three if o'sullivan could win this frame he would be sure of a lead of some sort going into this evening's final session what's more if he did make it 5-2 it would give him the impetus to take a big lead into the last session [Applause] chance he could get the snooker back here sullivan leave the cue ball behind the black i didn't expect him to miss the yellow though oh it's very careless a miss and a three ball engine which means that ding can nominate any color rumble has an extra yellow two four this is a shot you would think it's the last remaining difficult part safely in seven so a big frame this has been for dinging way you start to look very fragile mentally for the first time in this tournament has to be said heal up so this is frame ball 16. [Applause] four three hawkins is the last name on the trophy but unfortunately didn't accrue enough ranking points this season to make an appearance here i sullivan going for his 32nd world ranking title in the same great venue that he won his first the uk championship a week short of his 18th birthday [Applause] fall and like it was going to leave ronia sitter to start with this cue ball just bounced a ninja two to make this a tricky little shot it was tricky but i didn't expect sullivan to play the cue ball into bulk he wouldn't have been properly on a color even if he posted it although of course if he had profited it would have been a slightly thicker contact i actually think both players have been affected by the way the table is reacting at the moment clive the cushions especially this black cushion is almost becoming unplayable even to play as skillful as this [Applause] [Applause] good long red from ding and from a friendly angle on the yellow three full another slack positional shot you want an angle in the blue to come down for a ride further down the table let's go red to the right of the pink and this is tough now this needs a very good queuing i don't know if the pink's available to the left middle she's just now they're stunned on the red oh he's got a plant that makes things a lot easier it makes things a lot easier ten red going over the corner pocket as well as forced into taking this blue on you won't be playing this otherwise oh brilliant it's an even better shot because his state of mind couldn't have been ideal 50. sixty twenty one oh well onto the new jewel 21. again frustration it was a tricky shot to take on knew he was leaving this red here's an aggressive shot one cueing impeded for his preferred ball the blue five six 11. 12. nice little shot stand for the pink chance to bring some more reds into play it's not worked out i think you get ronnie's reaction 18. very frustrated with the outcome of that shot and that was another symptom of his frustration i think in a better mood he would have played a safety into borg [Applause] so sullivan's inability to contain his frustration has led to dean getting in eight it's like a battle of the the tempers at the moment clive isn't it who can who can keep hold of the temper the most no [Applause] shown anger and frustration well he's walking on a table i don't know he's on this red of sorts to the left corner i can't see i know see who's even gonna get to it and even if he can what position is he gonna get [Applause] that was an incredibly tough spoiler shot 16. he was within a roll of pulling it off if he had managed to pop the red he would probably have gone on to take the frame as it is so sullivan is now favorite to go 5'3 up even though he's still a few points behind eight nine 60 17. 22 it's one two three 29 not 100 satisfied with his last positional shot that's a bulk wouldn't expect it to be a problem in between green and brown twice 36. [Applause] that's all it looks like as you said clyronna sullivan is the one that's going to be guaranteed to not elite going into the second session one more frame to play this afternoon 41. either going to be five three or six three ahead well nobody likes spiders and ding particularly in this context because particularly nasty spider shot has cost him this frame sorry i made an error there either guaranteed for a sullivan note 48. fifty-three fifty-nine minutes [Applause] thank you the final frame of this session didn't join me to break so this is the frame that defines the afternoon's work for these players at its conclusion sullivan will be either six three up or only five four okay [Applause] uh [Applause] forced into a safety arrow one eight not i think there was this was a or still is obviously a long way to go in this frame but i think it's 14. obviously i'm far more important for dinging me to win ronnie sullivan he was to have a 6-3 lead going to tonight it's not very often you see him give up those leads fantastic front runner but it's not been the classic that i expected so far 21. no there have been some good things celibates back to back centuries 131 and 105 but also some very surprising errors and quite a few flashes of irritation from both players either with stingy bounces or their own shortcomings spencer c4 thirty-five i think one thing that o'sullivan has become better at without age thought his overcoming frustration when he was quite a bit younger sometimes used to destroy his performance giving back to his frustration just made him worse much more disciplined these days 48 49 56 57 64. 64. well he wouldn't bet against i'm making his third century of this first session [Applause] session later 81 yeah we've talked about it's not being a classic and people might say well ronnie sullivan you know he's made three centuries but this stuff around the place it's really this is bread and butter stuff it's ronnie sullivan 88. he's coming his opponent a lot to think about coming into tonight's session things and we've got to come out tonight and win he would think three of the first four frames to have any chance 94 95. in sullivan's third century of the afternoon in the session in which he's had several off-key moments but has nevertheless built up a very useful advantage for this evening 106 108 111 120. well i'm sure he could have made a total clearance if he concentrated at the break of 120 nevertheless gives him a 6-3 lead going into this evening's final session very warm welcome to the guild hall preston welcome back to the final of the labyrinth world grand prix brought to you by world snooker live on itv sport we're ready to go ladies and gentlemen the referee in charge is greg colliony and now ladies and gentlemen it's time to meet the players would you please welcome from china asia's number one and the winner of 13 world ranking events ladies and gentlemen ding john huiz [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and now ladies and gentlemen here he is from essex england the winner of 31 world ranking events ladies and gentlemen time to meet the five-time champion of the world the one the only the rockets [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a grand guild hall welcome for two fine fine players the venue absolutely crammed everything's set fair but you have to say dealing with an awful lot of work to do o'sullivan is the man in command at the start of the second and concluding session of this the ladbrokes world grand prix thank you ladies and gentlemen frame 10. veronica sullivan to break yes and ronnie o'sullivan was not at his best this afternoon but she a weight of scoring eventually took him away right away from dungeon week two centuries probably doesn't quite tell you how he played because he missed quite a lot of shots but amongst it there was that power powerhouse scoring brake building that we see from him all the time [Applause] looking shot from ding two cushions first go sometimes players taking two or three efforts to get that shot bang on i do believe that ding will have to come out very quickly tonight because within half an hour this match could be put right beyond him if sullivan gets motoring again and the worrying aspect for ding is that on all three occasions oh sullivan's beaten him in a final it's been by a heavy heavy margin 10-3 2007 masters 7-1 2011 premier league 9-3 2014 welsh open [Applause] i thought it was going to finish short but it went on and on yes well they have to start going in those shots especially leaving a sullivan more than tempting reds like the one he's faced with near his hand at the moment another shot here could be the red obviously to the right of the table and he may think about playing a cannon on the red to the left of the black if he could manage that then he could be in that's what he's looking at now not an easy shot it's a two-way shot the other i think he probably felt that the cannon would have to be full ball if there's anything but then he wouldn't be on the black and what you know sullivan looks at a shot as long as this he's really trying to work out the best line of attack to get the black on his spot to get everything open down there usually sees a shot instinctively very quickly right in the middle of the bunch goes the left corner six well it's unusual lots of head shaking if you could come in high up from the black maybe he would be looking at kissing a red or two away from the black spot he's only one key shot away from being right in i'm sure there's a little cannon in the offing well i think he might be on the red through the gap here that would be lucky faulty didn't know much about it he's on that and the black goes to the opposite corner when it comes to brake building sullivan doesn't really need bonuses but this really is a bonus 50. anything but straight on this red and i think swansea straight is exactly what he has got in front of him that's no good that's a good effort threat there simply was not enough angle to play with the break will end here it's a great shot very complicated layout of the reds around the black spot there don't want a way to finish anyone who's played this game knows that that kind of drop in snooker behind the yellow you have to make perfect contact in terms of pace and line on the brown and that's what he did oh no it wasn't a very big target actually usually you've got a four or five red target to just nestle into there's one red in front of the others and he just hit it half ball okay one the extreme force was to manufacture the angle and he's achieved that very nicely indeed yeah it's just off straight actually what if he he's got more than one way of getting on a red here direct screw back or maybe he could land on the right at the bottom of the bunch and there's a very slight angle again it might take a bit of pace though on it that's okay [Applause] well already he looks more focused to me than he did certainly early in the session this afternoon eight we know he's trying to win his 32nd world ranking title this evening which is four short of the record 36 of stephen hendry what would be remarkable if he did prevail tonight it would be the 16th different world ranking tournament in which his name would appear on the trophy when i lose tonight there was a time film but i didn't think he'd ever get to hendrie's 36 but i now think it will be a big shock if he didn't because he's playing too well and he has done over a sustained period yes i always thought henry's record like you neil was pretty much impregnable not so now 23. 24 the other by-product of a victory here tonight would mean that with a hundred thousand pounds first prize o'sullivan would be basically guaranteed but to have at the age of 42 his most lucrative season ever in terms of prize money it's remarkable what he's doing thirty-one this frame has uh required quite an intense period of concentration for a sullivan but it's and working color here means he's already another frame in front 13 does he go into the bunch still probably he won't be too concerned that he's missed the pack there because his main priority was always the pot and two snookers are required so he'll live with that ronniel sullivan 46. two visits okay but the perfect frame 23 later cracking snooker and from the chance created tidied up yes if you remember he actually potted and one cracking long red and went off and ding had his only opportunity a reddit at length which he wobbled so that was the best thing it came his way in that frame sam i mentioned earlier that professional english professional english open victory against karen wilson where he led 6-2 in barnsley at the start of the session into the evening and of course carl wilson had an outside chance but he absolutely buried karen wilson in the evening session playing wonderfully so he he's not frightened to go away and win by a wide margin he's always been a very good front runner phil wasn't he t3 he's a very good everything when it comes to snooker a wonderful cue in that shot i know the frame's over but he really that keyboard was guided around the table for the yellow that's very very good everything this afternoon wasn't actually especially at the beginning when balls were being missed in the first frame all over the shop fully agreed neil and yet he's pod success rate in ten frames forty four ninety four percent [Applause] brexit [Applause] the preston guildhall has been very kind to ronnie o'sullivan over the years some wonderful memories he has of this place tried to win his fourth ranking title at this venue here tonight it all started for him as a 17 year old when he won the uk championship in 1993 the youngest ever winner of a world ranking event then and he remained so 25 years on he's as good as ever in my opinion even better it's another brilliant you're right he's got everything he's got absolutely everything because what he didn't have back then was a particularly good safety or tactical game and that obviously comes with experience you're not just born with that and we saw in the last frame when he broke down and put ding in behind the yellow eight when his long game's also functioning then really it becomes extremely difficult to beat no he's not won this yet but he's kind of going to form he came in here as the number one seed if you're wondering why selby wasn't the number one seed this tournament is for the top 32 players on this season alone and of course ronnie's miles clear of everybody 14. so he was seated to win it he may well go on to do that 50. he's definitely going to be number one seed for the upcoming players championship in clandudno t2 yes it'll be very difficult to beat amongst other reasons we don't start with better 7th there it's best to 11 from the outset which means that the the better the player the better the chance of winning i guess but thirty-one okay well that's surprising almost everybody i think in here that he's overrun to the extent he has he's got a wonderful touch and he looked to be getting it all back that red he's just discovered that it goes yep there's nothing to stop it actually it was a full pocket and rolly only found out about it when he's an intended shot became unavailable had a little bit of positional luck in the first frame of the evening as well when he's playing beautiful snooker as he is now and he's having a little bit of run on top of it you might as well turn out the lights and go home that seemed to be a slightly dull contest well he comes around quickly to see if the pink is available it's the only hope of keeping the break going that looks very tight i can't believe that goes the red is covering this potting angle but even that okay he's broken down look at the safety shot he played absolutely watertight by a long ways second option i think he's not getting a chance twice he played that shot tonight both times to perfection the other clever aspect of o'sullivan's safety shot on the green is that he's not the green safe should ding get a chance to maybe clear up when you're 40 in front putting a color safe is definitely the right way to go [Applause] very well done we really would have liked to nudge on something a beautiful shot because the pot and the cube were coming out of the bunch without hitting one it was very well judged that was a very good play for dinging turn this around he's gonna continue to pop those he saw a gap here in the bunch slight moral victory for dingenwei there just the last couple of shots well they go for this red that he's close to just not happening for asia's number one what this match for me turned in frame five when o'sullivan knocked in a cracking red to that same pocket at a really acute angle went on to make a century and ever since he's been in total command and the opening red there was no bargain either six seven red a few moments ago 50. couldn't follow it up with the one that he was close to and it's another frame that he's gone the match feels like it's gone as well 22 23 that 31. he can't help but save what he does 88 he's not going to be around forever is he neil now that he's still here still at the peak of his powers just enjoy it's not going to be around forever but about 2011 when before you won the world title again you might have thought that you'd seen the best of him i don't think i'd have been alone in thinking that we're all wrong the way the best is yet to come well i know someone 39. that wasn't it but it mattered not in this [Applause] you have to think that a glittering piece of silverware is heading towards the expansive trophy cabinet that's in the home of the cloth ronnie not happy with the cue ball though the referee greg coniglio asking go sullivan if he wants to change the white i think should we change that okay yes it might have been a little chip out of it or something not right about it we don't see that very often there will be plenty more somewhere so we're just asking for another white vinyl so i'm just waiting for another one to come maybe a mark on it and of course if you do see something in your line of view on the cue ball the mark that cannot be got off then it can distract certain players unusual to see that kind of thing happening but it does crop up now and again and the ball is now so uniform that it doesn't really matter does it when you you change the white you know that the next one they bring out will react exactly the same well you'd hope so wouldn't you but uh yes i think i'm sure it'll be absolutely fine i don't know what uh things you got to do to get back into this game because he's been basically wearing out the carpet at the bulk end because that's where he's playing all his shots from certainly tonight he's not really had many chances he had one red in that frame that he missed and chances are very scarce and you've got to take them whenever they come along to break so we've got michael white and jimmy white on the tour and now we've got two whites in this final [Applause] um for those of you who are hoping for a very close finish what's happening with ding's game so far in this session does not all go well he looks all at sea he missed that by a mile okay he's not having quality table time either that doesn't help well but right now neil you can't envisage you come back no you could have kind of seen this happening it was a long lead which when he took in it was probably a bigger lead than the the match on balance reflected now the player was at their best ronnie started to score eventually three frames felt big of course five even bigger no no obvious sign of him letting up he's played better tonight than he did this afternoon 16. in the 12th frame of the 2014 welsh open ronnie o'sullivan made a 147 break against ding this is the 12th frame here just saying it's over now well it's funny shot that because he actually hit it into the left side of the pocket which i thought would bring the cue ball wider and uh further but it didn't actually stop very quickly all the same a nice recovery wow the noise that made dropped his chalk as well as he did a few times this afternoon but he's crunching them in and that bunch had been opened right up again 31 yes dropping his chalk is about the only mistake he's making at the moment 38 39. 46. tonight might have felt was about to happen it was a difficult cutback it was probably the couple of shots before which is the reason he didn't continue the break hit that very well dude he will zip back eight well we know sullivan ran out of position before it was because the cue ball zipped back so did the the white off the black there no 16. oh dear it was just off straight he wanted a bit more angle and he almost gave himself more angle to the detriment of the actual pot itself he's furious i think more with frustration i didn't think last night's late finish would make any difference i have to say he's taking the edge of his game in my opinion i don't know if he'd won anyway but he hasn't played very well today well forehead against wooden cushion rail equals no contest only one winner there the brow is red not surprised eight no just red color red is all he needs 70. he's going to keep plowing on he's annoyed with himself that he's straight setting himself very high standards but he's about to go 9-3 up in the first 10 final of a huge tournament so he shouldn't be too 24 disappointed with himself and that's another frame one gets to the point i think when in a long match like this wins a player so far ahead it's almost both players want it over with think we'll try his best but there's a part of him that probably you know he's looking for the door now and that's only to be expected his human nature when you're this far behind it's demoralizing it's one way trap there's a snooker rolls royce goes down a trophy road 36. this evening five breaks over 41 over 30. i know sullivan forces three and the first ronnie o'sullivan the lead is now 9-3 the requirement one more frame to be crowned champion one frame away from a victory in this world grand prix to get the next frame underway clive everton has joined neil folds in the country box it doesn't look as if the end is going to be delayed dangerous things when we trailed 6'3 at the interval his only real hope was to put together two quick frames at the start of the evening session but in fact the opposite happened so at nine three it's all over by the formalities yes sir what might be left is as to whether it gets to the mid-session interval which ding one it would be after this frame ronnie wins this game over one of course any professional has his pride of performance but it's really hard when you have no realistic prospect of winning just want to put the best score line on it you can well that's often underlined by many of the best of 25 frame three session matches at the crucible where a player is so far behind he almost gives up the ghost matches will be over with a session to spare he's played well this week dean i'm pleased to see him playing better but not so much today in fairness we're concentrating on position things on me but the plot itself was pretty easy you can't help but feel that jing's mental resources were severely depleted by his very long semi-final against mark selby last evening four hours 40 minutes of that 41.65 what he's just done there quite what he's been doing all the way through this tremendous tournament this week here at the guild hall his safety has been quite magnificent at times nobody knew he could play safe but some of the trouble he's got his opponents in go back to that match with jan bingtao who was a very much up-and-coming player he tied him in knots and he had to because that was the most difficult of the matches he's faced in fact sullivan only came through 4-3 this is uh that's not what he would have played absolutely guarantee that he played into the left of the bunch [Music] pushing squared up considerably he got a clap but it wasn't the shot he tried [Applause] well that was unexpected he's trying his hardest but they won't go in it's been a very frustrating day for him i think in some ways this this evening is probably even more frustrating because four or five of those have he's got very close to and they all wriggled and stayed out such as the fine margins between success and failure at snooker wow i think he's looking at the two reds at the bottom of the bunch there's one in the middle as well one those two reds i think he's looking at for his next shot they definitely go the bottom one will certainly go doesn't have to play a cannon here may not be a full pocket but i think it goes into the middle of the pocket there you can see a perfect demonstration that is on especially from as close to it as he is eight no doubt about it in my mind not comfortably when it would be nice if o'sullivan could round off his victory with his 11th century of the tournament 60. he made 12 in winning the english open back in october and that was a tournament involving seven rounds this one was of only five rounds what's he full yes and he'll going to the next phase of in this series if you like the players championship in clan didn't know was a very warm favorite saying earlier on clive you've got the slightly riskier best of sevens to start with these long matches best two elevens from the outset 16 of the world's best players and the man we're watching he's a man they've all got a fear 39 [Applause] green is a just something that might interest him it's an easier pot than the black keyboard is not under complete control but it's a backup shot he's played it well he has controlled the cue ball though that's beautiful what a recovery that is still on the trail of century number thank 934 as he intends to make further progress towards the thousand which he's expressed the ambition of achieving there's a great area to land in after that green right in the middle of choice of reds and he's played better 44 this week and this season than he has in this final but it's an overwhelming success all the same we did see spasmodic excellence from o'sullivan this afternoon 51. he made three centuries 52 but it wasn't consistent excellence not like that he showed in the industry when he missed only six pots all day in beating karen wilson that last black was the final piece of the jigsaw danny behind the red what a great player 67 68 it was the first prize of a hundred thousand times awaiting him to add to the 558 000 and he's already amassed this season [Applause] he could well become the first player for a sneaker player to earn a million pounds in prize money in a single season 82 that would be beating mark selby's record of 932 83 an odd you could make a century here because the natural angle is into the red from this black not to be sanctioned a ruthlessly efficient display converting to it's his 32nd world ranking title and now he's only four behind stephen's stephen hendricks all-time record of 36. yes and look at the joy his friends are out there with him his little group of followers and he's battled some of the way through the week he's been brilliant in spells but he's now the consummate match player as well as the genius of a snooker player that he's always been so now it only remains to hand you over to john mcdonald to host the presentations thank you ladies and gentlemen the presentation would you please welcome the chairman of the wpbsa mr jason ferguson and on behalf of our title sponsors lab rooks the head of uk sponsorship adrian osman [Applause] so ladies and gentlemen the runner-up receiving the silver medal and 40 000 pounds and that goes to ding zhang ding i'm going to take you over here to the middle ding listen um i don't think anybody could live with ronnie when he's in that kind of form you didn't really get much of a chance in that one tonight did you not er i have a good chance in uh the first sessions and didn't take him as well and um yeah it looked like i played rubbish and in the end it doesn't respect her too much he's a very difficult man to beat though but listen you've had a quiet season but you seem to be coming back into your best form usually at this time of year with some big tournaments to come so you must take something from that going forward yes a few few months and it doesn't play well and i i i feel good in this all week and i you know play running in finals is always my dream it doesn't matter how hard you're going just i just want to play well against him it doesn't make happens every time but just try okay well well done thank you very much indeed ding ding relay and now ladies and gentlemen as we present our winner with 100 000 pounds in the gold medal ladies and gentlemen ronnie o'sullivan ronnie wow uh you've given everybody a fantastic evening here in the guildhall as you have so many times 25 years after winning your first ranking title here you're 32nd just how pleased i with that tonight yeah obviously very pleased you know to um you know to win this tournament it's a great tournament i just want to say well done to ding you know he's had a fantastic tournament you know he's a great player uh and um so i just want to say well done to him i want to thank the fans you know because they've supported me and this tournament so well this week and it's been a fantastic tournament it's a great venue obviously i want to thank my sponsors bet chris better betting because they've supported me as well you know so you know everybody sees you just here playing and making it look easy sometimes but obviously there's a lot of support and you know i just want to thank all them people but for me it's just nice to still be playing and competing and and having fun you know so it's good you certainly look uh you certainly look as though you're enjoying it out there ronnie that's your fourth uh ranking title this season which is just remarkable 42 years old you're just going from strength to strength yeah i mean it's it's weird really i mean i kind of rededicate myself just before last year's world championships because for two years i kind of took my eye off the ball and i thought well let's just see if i if i can still play so i put a bit of work in and you know i've had a few results which is great um but it's weird really because you can put all the practice in and and still not do nothing i mean i haven't played since the masters you know i come here cold for a month and you win a tournament so just this game doesn't make sense sometimes you see you you're either lucky or you're not lucky so i got lucky this week well you work hard at your luck i can tell you that listen thank you very much indeed you've enjoyed we've enjoyed watching you this week we'll see you again in plan didn't know and good luck in wales thanks ronnie thank you and now ladies and gentlemen it's now the moment we've all been waiting for our winner receiving the magnificent trophy and ladies and gentlemen his 32nd world ranking title as we crown him the lavrop's world grand prix champion ronnie [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] sullivan is the 2018 world prix champion his fourth ranking title of the season with that convincing 10-3 win over ding's union a 94 pop success rate and take a look at those total points 1045 to ding jin wheeze 364. a convincing victory for the rocket a ruthless display stephen you'd have to say um yeah yeah you know i've seen him play better um especially this afternoon i think tonight he came out and he looked focused immediately looked like he wanted to get the job done as soon as possible um but yeah the disappointing thing i i expected i i expected a classic today i really really did ding was playing so well leading up to the final um we've seen the stats there high speak 68 i know he's only won um three frames but um yeah i expected him to make make more of this match but um ronnie just he's doing what he's doing he's just rolling rolling opponents over at the moment you certainly don't need reminded of ronnie's first pers ranking title win here 25 years ago i think everybody's made a point of reminding you about that however i would say this when you saw him when he first came onto the scene and he won that uk championship here did you recognize the talent that he has become oh very much so you could tell straight away this this was a guy who's going to go on and win tournaments for years and years and i honestly think he's he's a he's a far better player than he was then now i think he's i think he's he's able to to you know he's you know we talk about mark selby in a b game runner sullivan's you know c game is getting the job done some of the time it's ominous isn't it where you see him like like that there was nothing ding could do alan tonight well he could have performed better overall as stephen said but it struck me during the match that yeah all right he wasn't offended his performance by ronnie but it was a good performance and he just is casting a spell over his opponents that's what it feels like it feels like everyone that plays against them is convinced he's he's going to beat them it's i was thinking about it as well like snooker up and down the in snooker halls for the last 30 40 years in the uk and obviously it's more world worldwide these days he plays a game that's so far away from what anyone really knows is that good and by the way i include most of the touring that it's a completely different game he's playing his short selection is it is able to execute most of the guys can't do it the way he does it and this you know the thing with ronnie is ronnie's b game is as we've said often enough most players a game didn't used to be ronnie's a game was what was needed his blc game would lose him matches just talking about he going back to stephen there he was saying about the time he played him all those years ago i played him when he was 12 years of age uh in the the big holiday camp festival in north wales prestatin and um you had to i was one of the invited pros i was probably top eight in the world at the time i can't remember exactly where i was with my game um and i mean these guys will know you had to win your whole sheet to get to play in the last 32 and and be with the invited pros anyway ronnie was 12. he won the whole sheet which is a lot of matches and of course i drew him i took him a start that's about three blacks he's 12 though he's not like 12 years of age i only beat him 4-2 and he was 12. and so it was always the case that he was a fantastic player that's a long time ago but even then you knew that he had something that different to the rest you know and you know you can always say well i didn't beat ronnie or sullivan you always talked to but yeah he was 12. we we often sit and talk about great players the great players through here stephen you always feature heavily in that but i would like to put ronnie solomon against other sports you know when you see the way that he performs in what is a hugely technical and and you know skillful sport and endeavor you you know he he is without any shadow of his eye amongst the very highest rated sportsman of his generation no no one can tell me that anyone in any other sport is any more naturally talented or any more gifted at their sport than ronnie's at our sport is it's a scandal to me that he's overlooked in all these sports awards um that that we have it's it's an absolute joke obviously the only thing you can put it down to whoever's the panel is it's just snobbery against snooker that's all i can say because i mean all these sport and you know lewis hamilton tiger woods and roger federer they're all unbelievably talented in their own sport they're not any more talented than ronnie the point i'd make on that is if you see ronnie's the most talented or most gifted who's the second most talented the gap between ronnie and the second best i believe is bigger than any other sport the best guy or the second best guy feathers probably the most you know but the second best guys it's interesting we do talk about roger federer in that breath because you know in the latter part of their career still so dominant and so skillful and so much enjoyment in watching them either throw a mccoy into that yeah of course and i think i think steven's right though i think the people that don't want him involved in these categories they probably don't define snooker as a sport that's all i can think of you know a past time maybe that's what they they can't like snooker because if snooker is a sport then he's one of the greatest sportsmen in the world at the moment you know if it's not then i don't know what he is but he's very good at what he's doing anyway certainly is and he's made a pot load of money this season although that you know is definitely not uppermost his mind but what i really enjoyed seeing was the way he celebrated his win tonight and and how angry he was at himself when he missed balls or wasn't happy with with how he was playing but it certainly meant a lot to him tonight you could see the way he enjoyed that victory yeah i mean he comes in and he tells us that he's not bothered if he loses he's going to do this he's going to do that and and i've said that i mean i still think that's a massive advantage he's got over over the rest who are really trying the hardest and he he's got this other life that it doesn't matter if he wins but he's still a winning he's just winning sports i mean he's a winning animal um and he loves lifting trophies no doubt about it and how much however much you respect his opponent he likes to put them away and he's a very difficult land of catch when he's ahead six three was his lead when we came into the evening session and this is how he finished off ding jin ree allen yeah i mean this little red here he's trying to squeeze an angle out of it just went astray but um it wasn't vintage you know some nights it just doesn't all click but in general play his his ability as i showed in the little piece before it even when the cue ball is quite close to the cushion it doesn't make an awful lot of difference because his ability is such that he can get the ball wherever he wants it and uh you know ding i think eight three we're going to see a short thing mr red behind the black spot i think eight three years mentally was done but the other thing there was when he did when he was making mistakes he's playing the immaculate safety shots like we saw there you know put ding up the other end of the table couldn't see a ball and and and that's i think where things have changed with with ronnie you know that part of it he would get annoyed with himself if he didn't play a good shot and he would play a rash one but now he's staying in complete control he's a bit lucky there he didn't have a clue this red one actually yeah he didn't know anything about that no no there was a there was a lot of head shaking there was a lot of um you know reactions to shots um he wasn't um totally you know in love with his game today but he you know he does what ding couldn't do his temperament lets him get over that bad shot and and still play good shots dingle is bad play this afternoon gets him something else he does actually ronnie that when you think of other finals there's been a few this season i think the chow you're paying against robertson guy's getting all right he's never won before but guys getting close to one in line when ronnie's like eight three nine three up you wouldn't know it it's as if he's like he's sprinting to the line where other players are maybe frightened of it a wee bit he's kind of he just goes after it and the scoreboard doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference to him he just plays yeah he does and i think there was his area of resignation about ding you know at this point all these friends behind we i think well we've seen it before i was going to say we've all been there not sure stephen has been there that often but over the years where you're that far behind in a match maybe he has i don't know but you know there's just almost you can't help it but ding's looking for the door really and that's just human nature because he knows he can't win and he's he's had enough you know he's taking enough punishment he's on the ropes you know and this is 32 ranking events right no but that doesn't include the seven masters champion no one's ever won the seven masters before he's got that as well and that's not a ranking of them champions you know yeah i've seen him yeah from there the trophy there's a couple of times yeah he's won the premier league about eight o'clock well i think he's won that more than anyone's ever won any snooker tournament in um so yeah he just when he's won a lot you know as i said steven won everything a lot of times and now ronnie's doing the same you know has he got another world championship in him of course he has so yeah i mean you look at you you have to ask the question who's going to stop him because at the moment he he put the question out earlier this week who's got the bottle to beat me he's asked a question and who has in this form who's going to stop him is hard it's very hard i mean there's going to be lots of contenders and it's a long term over 17 days and ronnie said himself how sometimes he can't handle the length that it goes on for but it's hard to make a case from not wouldn't it you know you could all talk about what if um it might be in a very different final of mark selby in the final he plays a very different game uh ronnie perhaps wouldn't have yeah that's a fair point i had as much well i don't want to say as much freedom but he certainly would have not looked forward to it as much against mark zelda the only thing that's missing from ronnie at the moment is a big win against selby at the world championships now he has beaten them a lot in the past but the last couple of times they've played selby's got the upper hand i think selby was being playing better than the knees now and if he'd come out and wipe selby away today 10-3 then we'd just well the world championship is his really because i i don't know who's going to win it selby could win it again clearly because he's won through the last four um but at the moment it's ronnie's you know he's running his tournament well the one thing ding will take part from is he has been in the fight against running yourself and he had to beat selby to get there but you could see his frustration out there on the table tonight alan i mean hitting your head off the the side of the table is never a good idea no wasn't he getting there i think he actually i think he dazed himself quite a bit um for the next five or ten minutes i mean the match as i said eight three down i think mentally was done but you can see the red mark there he he wouldn't do that again i think i've actually done that before i don't know about you guys i've done that whacked your head against the slate or the cushion at the time it feels like yeah i tell it does and tell you what the time it feels like the best idea ever but then after a couple of meetings i shouldn't have done that but when you're so frustrated you know that there's nothing much you can do is there well it certainly didn't really help dinging we however he will take heart for the fact that he was in the final and that his form has been good this week and you know he tends to always find a run of four as he heads into the crucible the world championship the latter part of the season we're going to take a break now but when we come back we are going to reflect on a fantastic week here in preston's guild hall and take a look at the guys hotshots [Music] wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] feeling right there [Music] [Applause] chef [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on come on some great uh shots there some of it seems a very long time ago now uh but some cracking snooker we've seen here this week um which one stand out for you then go on stephen i like the very last shot maybe to the average viewer it doesn't look much better snooker player the control of the cue ball there is magnificentness there's lots of great maybe shots look more spectacular but that one for me i really enjoyed that one yes we saw the outcome of it but you know it was a great shot but i know what you mean lots of things too he's queuing down on it and then to execute the shot accurately was was brilliant i totally agree so might we be able to see it i don't know maybe we won't see it we might have a look at that one of the other ones then i like the shot ronnie's shot where he got the great screw back on after the black yeah well look there's there's a lot of dinged wee shots in there right because he's been playing great snooker a week a lot of ronnie o'sullivan um and one or two other sort of slightly unusual shots so uh anyway you know it's it's one of those things it's been it's been a good week and some for some really good snooker what makes a hot shot then because of course i put in there at mcgill's flick shot with the ball flew along the top of the table i did it just to annoy both of you obviously but you tell me what you know when you're picking a hot shot what constitutes a hot shot i'm i'm looking for the skill factor as a snicker player that's why i picked the last one that's what i look for there's ones that are more spectacular i mean anthony mcgill was the epitome of a hot shot i mean you have to say but it's basically it's a fluke yeah um i've never seen it before right i've i've seen that i had that i did that once the qualifier i know allan did it at the crucible he looked bewildered when it went in as if he didn't know if it was even a legal shot but uh yeah i mean that is that is a real freakish one because normally the ball just goes on the floor never rolls along the cushion into the other pocket and and i also think a hot shot it has to mean something as well it's when you play a really great shot that has an influence on the match it's a bit like try of the season you want to try that you know it's not good and you've scored 14 tries you just run with it there was one in there when the thing's yellow yeah he'd already won the frame he was on a century break but he came all the way around the angles perfect on the last thread was a magnificent shot but obviously the frame is one if you're wondering why alan isn't here to share his hot shot because honestly alan is the expert when it comes to picking hot shots he is up in the practice room at the moment just getting ready for some of alan's angle action so that's how we make the magic there's alan we can't get out the practice room frankly can't win this weekend but he is go there with clear in our cameraman getting ready for something to look forward to tonight another of allen's angles is that my eyes are too white right okay we will be back here for the climax of the world grand prix in the guild hall ronnie o'sullivan 25 years after his first ever ranking title here in the guildhall can he make it another one here against dinging he's got he's 6-3 up in this final we are back here at 6 45 on itv

Channel: GeeCee

Views: 1,867,556

Keywords: O'Sullivan v Ding 2018 FINAL World Grand Prix Snooker, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui, 2018 FINAL World Grand Prix Snooker, Snooker 2018, 2018 World Grand Prix Snooker

Id: JkmqO4Uioqk

Length: 198min 45sec (11925 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2018