Day 9 World Championship Snooker Extra

Hello and welcome. Are featured match is the second session of the

second round match between Mark King and Ding Junhui. Mark King has

dominated proceedings. There is still a long way to go. Pledge join

our commentary team, Willie Thorne WILLIE: Ding Junhui is always a

very attacking player. If he takes this on, he has got to make sure he

The first chance has been missed. don't know if it is better or not

that the cue ball went in. Anyway, He decided that it was well worth

having a go at this to hold for the black. The disappointment is it has

not gone in, but I think it has gone far enough away from the

pocket to not make easy to get on He obviously thinks it is too thin.

He has controlled that well. It was That was a good pot, but he would

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have wanted that to stay short of It will be interesting to see how

Ding Junhui handles the session, given that he knows he can just

attack and play silly shots. He has to be very patient. He needs to win

the session 5-3 I think to have any He has a chance here. He is just

having a look to see if it is worth holding for the black. It makes the

shot harder if he is playing it There was the issue I was talking

about. If you play that at normal speed, I don't think you would have

missed it. It is awkward at that sort of distance. Anyway, he has

got away with it. He has got to sit tight today and hope for the best.

Everyone is saying that in Sheffield the bottom half of the

draw but these two players are Orange has really opened up. Just

two seeded players lieutenants, Ricky Walden being one, and Ding

Junhui is one of the fancies for the title is the other one. Mark

King is interested in Ding Junhui and where he is right, not

interested in that at the moment, but he just wants to keep them off

the table. He has Mary -- he has That is probably one of the reasons

that his safety success is not as high as Mark King's. He has missed

that by about a foot, as you can see. He has been beaten on the

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That was an unexpected mess. -- The way it ended last night, I

think he was happy to go out and forget about snooker for a while.

That is the beauty of these long matches. He scored all right, back-

He is not perfect at all on the We are already in the first frame

and there are already signs of Ding Junhui looking a little bit forlorn.

I don't know over the years have he has ever been at the Crucible 6-2

behind and won a match. And sure somebody will tell us. He is one of

those players that likes to have it had his own way at least. At the

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minute he is not getting it at all He has no option but to take on

It that is not too bad at all. But brown looks like that -- the brown

looks like will go up to the pink If he can hold for the black, this

Is he on the black? Yes, he's. He is looking to see if it will go

For his confident, people want to win at least the first two out of

three frames for his confidence He has left the perfect angle on

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the back this time to push that red He has to be a little bit careful

here with the brown going back on Sorry, I mean the pink spot, of

course. This is clearly a chance to win this opening frame. He is 46

points ahead and counting. When you consider that he has had to easier

This is just the kind of start that Ding Junhui needed. He could not

afford to lose this first frame. It might set at Trent for a similar to

date -- a similar day like yesterday. This is the one that he

wants to win the frame. It appears at the minute but unless he makes a

frame-winning break, he will make a one visit break here. So, he is

winning all the open games and losing all the scrappy ones, and he

does need to scrap to get back into this game. You can't always have it

your own way. Which applies to him never been world champion. You

would like to think you would at some point with his talent end up

winning here, but there will be bad days at the opera stage yesterday

which need to be overcome. I did not be needed a lot wrong and this

is just the tonic key required. He will do well to make another

century from here. The right and red as possible, but not easy.

key to playing at the Crucible, all the top players can overcome a bad

session. So far in his career, he has not overcome a bad session. It

will be interesting to see her this turns out having lost the opening

59 for Ding Junhui, more than enough for him to win the frame. He

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gets a frame bacchanal trail 6-3. - I don't know if he is playing not

just to get some practice, or an We will know after the shot that he

is just having a bit of practice or That tells me that his aspirations

of winning this frame. It would be I am really surprised he played it

slowly, but says he did not get in behind the black titan the cushion.

I am really surprised he did not try to put distance between those

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This is the first one of the three stickers so far that has been

missable. It could be very easy to get around the back of this. He

still needs another three after this one of course if he misses it.

Well, that'll be that. It has taken a while. About 25 minutes exactly

in this frame. It will go to Ding Mark King concedes. Ding Junhui

wins the first frame of the session, So, Ding Junhui did what he wanted

to do was win the first frame of the session to close the gap to

just three frames. The best he could hope for is winning this

session 3-1 so he goes into the He was a little unlucky to stick it

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He certainly deserves to be on one there. The cue ball stayed in the

middle of the table, which is always the clue. When the cue ball

stays in a monks them, but the reds in their police but well. -- Netani

Good recovery. Ding rarely goes in and out of baulk. This clearly is

an excellent chance to score heavily again. When he gets in, he

He is virtually in front in every statistic we have available. The

only one he is not is the frame That was a good shot. He knew he

had the red on the right as back-up. The only thing he is not in front

on in statistics is table time. It seems like he was at the table all

the way through the session yesterday. Ding looking to add to

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This will be very pleasing for millions of Ding supporters, the

way he has started the afternoon second session. He said he would be

happy at 5-3, just to get back into the game. He will be looking for

something better now. 5-3 was just the minimum requirements for the

session. I suppose you cannot set your sights too high. Graeme Dott

lost the first session 6-2, won the second session, 6-2, but still went

Doesn't quite have the angle on the pink. There is enough to pay a

cannon into the reds. If he plays the red to the extreme right, he is

not bound to be on any other red He is playing for the loose red to

try to get a better angle on black This is now a perfect angle. He has

two ways of playing this. If he hits the outside one of the two, he

can only one in the left hand corner. Different players would

play this different ways. He has not made up his mind. Be guaranteed

one is the outside right. The better shot to win the frame would

be to hit the middle one, but it could go wrong. He decided on the

outside one. At least he knows he will be on the red. That should be

a frame-winner. He is 62 in front. He is one of the best. Not had much

Ding is just class when he his break-building. Mark King needs to

win at least one of the next two frames, otherwise he will be

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What a fabular shot! Absolutely beautiful shot. That is as good a

positional shot as we will see in the tournament. What a shame! He

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has done what he has had to do, What a shot that is. A very narrow

angle. Tremendously difficult shot in the middle from there, but part

of this was where the yellow was placed. He has got a half chance

here. His first of the match, or the session, rather. He has gone

through a gap we did not think was there. That second little kiss

might have left a gap for the top red into the pocket. So there is

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It was an anxious moment to see where the cue ball have finished.

It is not a good sign when he starts to miss those. At first

glance he has only met the straight red into the middle pocket.

Probably have to run up for the The red on the pink spot is just

far enough off its spot to make Cannot see what red he is going to

He couldn't have played it better if he had had 10 tries. The cue.

He needs to get low on the brown Did not play it with much pace. But

he has played it well. So the brown is the only thing that will stop

Just overcooked his position on the pink. Had to play the little flick

off the red again. Still not It is amazing he has not been on a

red properly yet. He has had to work very hard for this break. As

soon as he gets on a red, he will get a good angle to get on the

brown. But he is struggling at the He is not worried about it right

now. He has enough red sticking out. Can be difficult at the Crucible,

that. Keeping your mind on the job He could miss this pink now he is

cueing over the black. He will have to screw it back two or three

inches. He will have to stun it in. With unwanted cueing over another

ball, you can get a bit of side That was a good shot also. Not easy

to get on those reds. With the brown and the black being in the

way, can see what is available. Can He has done really well here, Ding,

a with the black being out of play He will need two more reds with

Straight is no good. Let's look at the angle. He has obviously got

some sort of angle because he is looking at getting on the bottom

Excellent shot. He made breaks of 59 and 98 in the previous two

frames. This has been the best break as far as cue ball control is

Very well done. There is a real determination about Ding Junhui, in

That brown and black have been there all the way through. So it is

an even better breaks in that regard. About to be moved now and

it is a question whether he can knock in a century break, once

again. Could have already made one this morning, he made 98 and missed

a comfortable red. The fact is, the important thing is, he is getting

Yes! Great stuff. I suspect it is getting more difficult to keep his

Never mind, 74! A very good break for Ding Junhui. Has won all three

frames this afternoon. Is only one 25 minutes and counting since he

last potted a ball. I don't think he did that much wrong, it's just a

complete turnaround from what we I think psychologically it would be

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a big deal for Ding if he could get Wanted that cue ball to come

Once again, all afternoon he has never got the wrong side of the

blue and he has probably played six or seven blues from the reds. Every

There is an angle, but he will have to force it. He will do well to get

the white more than a few inches off the cushion. He must finish

high so he can get rid of the red I mentioned how important it was to

finish high. But from the angle, he is not. The red at the back of the

This is worrying times a game for Mark King. That was the first

chance he had, a good chance with that last red he missed. It was a

red under normal circumstances he would have potted without any

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The pink won't go on its own spot. He has to judge perfectly. If

anyone can find a way out of fur on to a colour, it is Ding. Naturally,

he can't avoid going into the red next to the pink. Depends if he

plays to screw its or run through. Unfortunately he could not do

anything about the red going on top of the black. He will have to

finish this break with a good safety shot. Keep the pressure on.

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There is pressure on Mark King, 33 minutes of playing time without

putting one ball. Last night it was 10 or 15 minutes for Mark King

without putting a ball. It is amazing how matches can turn round.

That is not the best of safeties. Nowhere near the top cushion

tonight it. You would expect Ding Junhui to put him in trouble at

I am afraid that is what happens often if you go into the pack

heavily. For some reason one red That is why they liked to play very

thing of the pack when they can't on the squished tables. -- when

That is also very good. Even a shot I can't tell if he has an angle on

This is the important shot. The red to the left of the pink spots... he

may decide to come in and out of That is the first bad positional

shot he has played. There is at red that goes. But he could have hit

that so much better. And if he had played to the left at the table

there were a number of reds Excellent shot. What must be going

through Mark King's minds as he is sitting there. He had a couple of

half-chances in this frame. If you had said to him after 12 frames it

would be six frames all he would have put in your hand off, but it

must be pretty hards -- pretty hard to tell yourself the jury -- that

That is another really good shot. Seed the way that cue ball just

He is going to have to muster up a lot of courage eight Ding Junhui

wins this frame. He wants to try and get out at this session no

worse than level. I don't know at first glance it he is on anything.

Does the top read macro of the three go? I don't think so. Ensure

he can't believe how he is not on one there. The League is 57. He

would love to be able to put the pink or black safe, but he can't do

The brewing beings see if it is a massive plus for Ding Junhui. --

That is the kind of safety shot that Ding Junhui was playing

yesterday, always finishing short, that is why Mark King won the seat

That is an interesting shot. It brings the red interplay. But is

quite a good shot, actually. Maybe even trying to get the brown on.

Ding Junhui is such an aggressive player. He will be thinking about

rolling this one into the corner because the safety is not easy. It

will leave the white somewhere That is superb. Superb! It looked

like a good shot that Mark King had played, but to just coolly rolled

Plenty of noisier, but it won't affect Ding Junhui in this frame

because he has as good as one night. No need to do anything flash.

just wonder if he misses this read macro -- if he misses this red, if

he will try to carry on just to try and knock him, Ding Junhui, out of

his rhythm. He is doing exactly that. Barring a lot of snookers,

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Ding Junhui will be in front for He would have liked to be able to

get the cue ball near the ground. He would like to get the cue ball

near the green to make it unmissable snooker. -- a missable

snooker. He didn't even play be on the yellow. That is surprising. I

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thought it was unmissable to play Mark concedes the frame. Ding

Junhui is in front for the first time in this match. Three more

These next three frames are massive for Mark King. If he goes in 10-6

behind, you can't see him going on It is amazing, isn't it, when you

play a bad shot... if he had not been tight on the cushion, he has

missed the shot by a proverbial mile, and the white end Of tight on

the cushion? It would be a lot easier if he hadn't have finished

Very, very good. Very good! After five frames on the trot, that is

excellent. Come on, Mark, make something happened. Play from the

yellow into the bunch. But as the idea, but, unfortunately, he got

too much into it. A player of his class should have got that, it was

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There is going to be a little movement as the session on the

other side of the screen finishes. That is all you need after you have

lost five frames on the trot! I don't agree with his shot at all.

He could have got back into the baulk area, but decided to play an

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active safety. He could find That is exactly what I mean. Look

at the length he has on the safety. This is a tough pot. Brilliant! He

played a bad shots at the last visit to the table, but that was

Very well done. Somehow he is going to have to muster up a break of 60

or above to win the frame at one visit because the way Ding Junhui

is playing, he may not get another He only just made it. It could have

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Well, he was quite a long way off at that. He was trying to get the

cannon on the black and his mind was elsewhere, a little bit. That

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never threatened the pocket. It was Has he covered it? The divide goes

up, and the Crucible belongs to these tonight for the rest of the

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That looks good. He can get into Right in there would be good. That

The way things have gone this afternoon, he would like to have an

open pockets, this one in the middle is a little bit acute, but

He stayed down on this one for a long time, but it was never in

He is concentrating very hard. This It wasn't easy shots and its

reacted off the inside job. He had a look up to the commentary box and

said, I twitched. It is very tough sometimes to be sure QEIII in a

straight line. Good job he played - So much has been the dominance of

Ding Junhui so far in the spiked frames, this is the highest break

he has had so far in this session. This is his best chance to win a

frame. Ding Junhui has dominated the session so far, but this would

be a pleasing result for Mark King and his fans. It would give him a

bit of momentum. When you news 5 on the trot, you have got to stop the

rot somehow and this is the chance As you can see, this is the one. It

has been a good frame, this. He has played a very hard frame, Mark King.

He is not going to lose this session 8-0, he is saying. More

relevant than that, the match is now 7-7. He likes a little chat out

there. He likes a little chat when Well, it has all been about Mark

King. He has dug in very hard to win this one. He has really stopped

the rot. He just made the comment, no whitewash Today, boys! He has

won a frame in the session. He really needed that. He was take his

usual toilet break. The scorer in the matches 7-7 and everything is

Since some ways, this is the biggest game of the session. That

is says 4th break off and every Hello, bat is the first one of

those he has missed a day. I think he has left his red in the middle.

-- Mr today. There was a bit of My lurking certainly weathered the

storm. He went 42 minutes without potting a ball. Not much of an

angle there. He might have some way of getting down to the red down by

the brown Bull. As I was saying --, he is not a prolific City --

century break-builder. The fact he's, he is a good score. He gets

his 50s and 60s, the tough bricks, as I was saying. He is on 94 career

centuries, which is not a very high return. He plays as tough a match

came as most. Looking a people like Ronnie O'Sullivan, he made 125

centuries just at the Crucible! That is probably why it Mark King

explained in his pre-match interview that he is not one but

people expect to win tournaments, but he is making a living at the

game and he loves the game. Not everybody can be a genius, so you

have got to take which you have got and try and win, and that is what

Ding, taking a rest. He will know he has been in a match, if he comes

through this. A chance to go into them this time around. Even if he

hits the pink, it you should look. He is blessed with a lot of cue

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Just looking at the way the match has gone, there has been runs of

one player winning frames in succession. We had back-to-back

centuries last night from Ding Junhui. Then he lost three in a row.

15 in a row. Now it could be marking winning a couple of frames

here. The significant thing is, if he could win the frame, at worst he

could be level going into tomorrow's final. Whatever happens,

he will be really in the match. Big target off the brown to go into

I think that shot looks on. Beautifully played. He deserves to

If you get the direction right, there is no need to hit that shot

That was a twitch. He did not play through that at all. Two feat

harder is where he wanted to be. With watching Ding all afternoon

and always getting the right hand side of the blue, Mark King, twice

in this frame has got the wrong side. That was very poor, it was

tension. He could have afforded to be well past the blue, he has the

yellow there. He plays the shot very well, he played one last night

when he powered its around the back of the baulk players and came

around. -- colours. It does not look like any reds will pot in the

Well done. Trying to pot the yellow safe and trying to get a good white

as well. That is as good as What a safety shot that is. It was

This was always going behind the ground -- brown for me? I think he

is disappointed it finished there. Maybe he feels it wasn't a great

shot from Ding. But I agree with you, Ding has played some great

safety shots today. This is a Mark King APPLAUSE Reaction. He is

suggesting the white drifted. can he see from sitting down there.

No advantage even if it is a free ball of play. He doesn't mind

giving another eight points away at least, trying to catch this thing.

He cannot hit it thick and have the white staying in the middle of the

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Anything thicker is no good. That was thick. He will either play the

kiss to the red to the left of the black. If he misses that, he is on

the blue. He is just looking to see what angle he needs. He can play

Decided to play for the blue and that was a rookie kiss. -- lucky

kiss. He is unlucky to finish where If he could get in on the cushion

behind the green some work, so he is snookered on the red by the

brown, it wouldn't be a bad place Not too bad, actually. Mark King,

if he can play the safety shot a little bit deeper down into baulk,

than the one Ding played, he can get the play in all kinds of

If he can somehow get the cue ball But, in finishing short... It is

This might be the most significant frame of the afternoon, if he can

win it. Marking played so well to get 41 in front. Played a bad shot,

did not get onto the blue properly. All of a sudden, I don't think he

Ding will know himself, if he can make a frame-winning contribution.

Mark King had an excellent chance on the break of 41 when he failed

to get the top side of the blue. If Ding wins this, he cannot be behind

No need to play a cannon on the one to the left of the pink because

He is now favourite to win this frame. I suppose the yellow is the

only stumbling block. But he will be over 20 points in front at least,

depending on what colours he takes. If he takes five reds, 5 blacks, he

Taking the pink, he might have opened up the two red's above where

Not quite hard enough, but he should be all right. He had be

sneaky look if he just rolled on and off the cushion if he can get

to the red at the top of the three reds. This has been an excellent

That helps a lot. Lovely cue ball control today. Beautiful touch, a

real class. Has been in amongst He has shown us why he could win

this title. Everyone knows the bottom half of the draw has opened

up. Seeded players, Barry Hawkins is awaiting. You have Ricky Walden,

Robert Milkins, Michael White. Wide Open. So the attention certainly

comes on Ding as likely winner of that half. The only thing about

Ding is he does let his head drop. When he has everything going, he

just looks unbeatable sometimes. The beauty of these long match is

his you can have a session like that, sleep on it, then come out

stronger, and he has done. If he can win this frame, that will be

quite telling, I would say. fact he has took a couple of pink's

come I mention if he took five reds and five blacks, he would only need

the yellow. This is played to perfection. Perfect angle on the

yellow, doesn't have to do hardly anything with the cue ball, just

stun across to the green. This would be for me, his best break of

the match so far. All the others have been played four in front,

this has been played from 40 points behind. Yes, well done. The last

possible thing that could go wrong, that shot. Super break. Super break.

I often say in commentary, the first 50 or 60. Break is quite hard.

The next 60 points are difficult. It is the chance to win the frame,

so a few nerves are involved. He This is the biggest frame of the

match, as far as Mark King is concerned. If the match had

continued last night from 6-2 in front, I am sure he would have won

virtually every frame because he had Ding in his pocket. The

interval came at the right time, they have had some sleep and Ding

has come out playing some super Just a massive frame, this one. And

that is a mistake. It is dead straight, so I suppose it could be

difficult to get on the black. I don't blame him for taking it on,

he has got to make something happen. But the last frame when he led by

41 points and got the wrong side of the blue, that is when it all

changed again. You could see Ding getting a high break from where the

balls are now. Unless the black gets tied up. That is what he was

just having a look at. Well the black go on its own spot? It will

be right next to the red, which is The black is now back on there,

well the red pot? I don't think it Just listening that it could be

another Joe Johnson year. He never won a match at the Crucible, before

The angle he has on this red means... The blue and mistake. He

will be low on the black. He can nudge the red away from the black

spot. He needs to finish low. He is asking for the white to be cleaned.

Just looking exactly where he needs He concentrated so hard on

finishing low on the black, he nearly missed it! A bit harder, it

wouldn't have gone in? The reason he played it that way, he wanted

the cue ball down on the table. He did hit it naturally thicker, that

shot. I don't think it is easy to That is well played. Make sure the

red came right away from there. Just class. Cleverly worked out. He

did not want to take the risk of just flicking its in case he made

For me, he is one of the top two or three in the world at break-

building. He could become the fastest ever to 300 centuries. That

is including beating Ronnie O'Sullivan and people like that. He

is only a couple a way. 296 before this match. He should have had won

this morning, 98 and missed a In Defence of people like Stephen

Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan, there was and as many matches to play.

They are playing 70, 80 matches in a season now. They used to only

play half of that. Those two boys don't need much defending do they?

The snooker they have played over It is not a great pack to go into

from the black. I wonder if he will push a few reds out into play here.

Is he on the pink in the middle as He can't generate a lot of pace

It is not easy to get the reds open from the black. He deserves to be

on one from that shot. That is a good shot. He generate so much

movement. He goes into the pack twice, such is the backspin he had

on that. He is a one-shot away from making this a frame-winning break.

He is not perfect on these red to get on to a colour. This is

probably Mark King last chance in This would be an unbelievable

performance. It is not like marking He had showed a lot of qualities at

the PTC finals. He was 3-0 down against Neil Robertson. He punched

the air, which is a motion you don't normally see from Ding. Apart

from that, he marches on when he is normally in front. But he is

showing what he can do. Psychologically, he would go into

tomorrow as the massive favourite. And that match in Galway, missed

three balls in seven frames. This has been the performance of

the Crucible so far, when you consider he was looking out at 6-2.

And these reds are in this position He get so much spin on the ball,

and you have to have a great cue action to be able to do that. He

has never once, all afternoon, got the wrong side of the blue. One

more red and he goes into tomorrow's session leading 9-7. A

brilliant performance. Brilliant They will also say that if he does

win this match, he's almost got the awkward match out of the way. The

match way you fall behind and under seeded players never recover from

that position. If Ding wins, he I think he relaxed a little bit

after having done his afternoon's work. Another wonderful positional

You could not believe to see two difference sessions of snooker we

have done. Mark King dominated the first session. Complete turnaround.

Ding has dominated the session. Did not miss a lot, so cannot be too

hard on himself. He would have beaten most players, 7-1, the way

Excellent shot! Making the third What an effort. He played to go

left Tyneside of the brown and tried to kiss the red out. -- left-

hand side of the brown. One of the best sessions of snooker you will

ever see. Mark King wanted to hit him on the head with his cue. Ding