Ding Junhui fires in seven centuries as he progresses to World Snooker final
Ding Junhui reached his first Betfred World Championship final in record-setting style as he saw off Alan McManus at the Crucible.
China's snooker flag-bearer fired his seventh century of the semi-final, a classy 123, and completed a 17-11 victory over Scottish veteran McManus this afternoon.
Before Ding's masterclass, the record in Sheffield stood at six centuries in a match, achieved by Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan, but he has rewritten that corner of the history books and also becomes Asia's first World Championship finalist, a landmark moment for the sport.
His earlier tons in the match were 100, 131, 100, 128, 138 and 113, and in a startling run of scoring he also fired breaks of 84, 62, 90, 97, 80 and 60.
Ding's time has finally come. Snooker's biggest match beckons.
The 29-year-old has been tipped to dominate snooker since his teenage years.
He won the UK Championship at the age of 18 and in 2013/14 matched Stephen Hendry's record of five ranking titles in a season, becoming world number one in December 2014.
A drastic dip in fortunes saw him recently slide outside the top 16, meaning he had to go through qualifying for this tournament.
But sweeping through three preliminaries bolstered his confidence for an assault on the event in which he has previously underachieved, providing what has proven to be the ideal preparation.
