China's Ding crashes out of Masters
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E-mail Xinhua, January 14, 2013
China's Ding Junhui dropped a 5-3 lead to lose to defending champion Neil Robertson 6-5 in the opening match of the Masters at Alexandra Palace on Sunday.
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Ding Junhui in action in the opening match of the Masters against Neil Robertson on Jan.13, 2013. |
Australia's Robertson played flawless snooker in the last three frames to reach the quarterfinals. He will face Mark Allen or Mark Davis.
Robertson started the match strongly with a break of 76 to win the opening frame, and he added a scrappy second for 2-0. Ding, who won this event two years ago, stormed back to take five of the next six frames with top runs of 103, 53, 127 and 54.
A break of 100 from Robertson in frame nine kept him in contention, then the key moment of the match came in the tenth when Ding, on a break of 50, was unlucky not to land on a red when splitting the pack off the blue. Robertson blasted in a trademark long red and crafted a superb 62 clearance for 5-5.
And when Ding left his opponent a red to a center pocket while breaking off in the decider, Robertson capitalised brilliantly with a run of 90 to secure victory.
"I did think I was out," said the 30-year-old. "He was a bit unlucky, if he had landed on a red in the 10th frame it was all over.
"Overall I thought it was a great match. Two champions, some big breaks and close frames. I was really pleased with the way I cleared up to go 5-5. Overall if you were to tell me I could play like that for the rest of the tournament I'd be very happy.
Ding said: "I played well today. I think 5-3 means nothing because he was 3-2 up then. I won three frames then and he won the last three frames. Anything can happen when he's playing very well. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck. It doesn't matter. He's a top player in the world. I just play. I was happy to play this game today and practise hard, and now I'll just go back to practise looking for the next tournament."
