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Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan are tied at 8-8 in their second round match at the World Snooker Championship. Photo: YouTube

World Snooker Championship: Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan deadlocked in epic tussle

  • Chinese ace Ding and English legend O’Sullivan are battling for a place in the quarter-finals in Sheffield
World Snooker
Old rivals Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan are poised at 8-8 ahead of the final session of a gripping second round World Snooker Championship clash in Sheffield.

They were level at 4-4 following the first session and ended the second also locked in a stalemate, neither player blinking in the high-pressure environs of the Crucible theatre.

The pair, crossing swords for a 22nd time since they first met in 2005, registered six 50-plus breaks apiece during a spellbinding first day of action.

O’Sullivan drew first blood courtesy of a break of 61, but Ding hit back to take the next three stanzas, the last of them with a break of 76.

Then it was O’Sullivan’s turn to reel off three in a row to move 4-3 in front.

The “Rocket” registered his first century break of the match in frame six, but Ding scored two 100-plus breaks of his own later to pull 7-5 clear.

O’Sullivan responded with another three-frame run, before Ding took the final two chapters of the day to square a back-and-forth encounter.

Ding is aiming to become the first Asian world champion. The closest he has gone in his 17 years as a professional was when he finished runner-up to Mark Selby in 2016.

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan is a serial winner in Sheffield and is targeting a sixth Crucible triumph.

Play resumes at 7pm (UK time). The winner on Sunday night will meet former world champion and current world number three Mark Williams, who overcame Stuart Bingham 13-11.

Elsewhere, there was controversy in the match between qualifiers Anthony McGill and Jamie Clarke when the two had to be separated by referee Jan Verhaas after exchanging words when McGill claimed Clarke was stood in his eye line during a shot.

They will resume with Clarke leading 8-7 on Sunday.

World number two Neil Robertson is also deadlocked at 8-8 in his match against England’s Barry Hawkins. They resume on Sunday afternoon.

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