This year’s first major saw a colossal battle between two players many thought were past their respective peaks. The UK Championship final saw a matchup between 2-time UKC winner, Ding Junhui and 2004 UKC winner, Stephen Maguire. It has been over a decade since either player were successful at this event and it’s as if they rolled back the years to bring a contest worthy of a Triple Crown final.
It wasn’t the best start for Maguire as he lost the first four frames of the session, including a fairly scrappy opener which saw each player have a few chances. Interestingly enough, Maguire was first with a chance in three out of the first four frames but missed blacks off the spot in Frames 1 and 3. This allowed Ding to compile 2 centuries in Frames 3 and 4 of 105 and 128 to provide him a stellar start to the final.
Maguire wasn’t going to let Ding run away with this final though. He brought out numerous displays of astonishing long pots which allowed him to get his first frame on the board. Frame 5 also saw well laid snookers from both players, each requiring 5 attempts for their escapes. Maguire was also then able to take Frames 6 and 7 which included some nice recovery shots in Frame 6 to reduce his arrears to 4-3. Ding was able to compose himself well throughout this final as he won the final frame of the afternoon session with a break of 66 to lead 5-3.
The evening session was just a powerhouse for all snooker lovers to enjoy. Ding capitalised off a mid-distance miss from Maguire to make 83 in Frame 9 and almost had Frame 10 stolen from him, but Maguire couldn’t sink the penultimate red. The score was 7-3 with the best yet to come.
The final 6 frames involved 5 centuries. After Ding took Frame 10, Maguire made 3 centuries in the next four frames including two 103 breaks (Maguire benefitted from a fortuitous fluke on his first red in Frame 11) and a 124. This brought the score line to a much closer 8-6 to Ding. Considering how the past couple of years have gone for Ding, most would have thought that this would have been the turning point for Maguire to win the championship. However, Ding matched Maguire’s two consecutive centuries made in Frames 13 and 14 with two of his own to close out the match. This included a 131 and what seems to be the magic number, a 103 in the final frame.
In what has been a season dominated by a few familiar faces so far, we were able to view a final involving two players further down the Top 16. Maguire and Ding produced phenomenal performances all week at a time where they would want it the most in order to make this Triple Crown final.
Maguire reached his first ranking final for over two years and despite not getting off to the best start, he was able to later produce the quality break-building that enabled him to run through Mark Allen 6-0 in their semi-final contest. Maguire should be able to take a lot of confidence from this run in York and know comfortably in his mind that his game is at a level where he can still reach Triple Crown finals.
As for Ding, he played in a manner which saw him win 5 ranking titles in 2013/14. And I’m not just referring to the final. He played at a top level throughout the entire week with convincing victories over Ronnie, O’Sullivan, Liang Wenbo and Yan Bingtao along the way. This is his first ranking title since 2017 and what a trophy to break the drought. Many thought that Ding was done and Asia’s top superstar would come elsewhere, but he has just proved that he is still the torchbearer and he isn’t going anywhere. If Ding can continue this level of performance, then he’s back to the mountaintop.
This year’s UKC was pretty special in that it saw the most centuries made with 139. But what I found more rewarding was that it also produced a resurgence for a number of players that were perhaps in the shadows. Nigel Bond, Matthew Stevens as well as our two finalists played spectacularly to show that high levels of competition can come from anywhere.