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AUDIO: Selby suffers shock exit and Ding beats Fu
There was a distinct feeling of East meets West at the Crucible Theatre on Tuesday.
China's Ding Junhui tackled Hong Kong's Marco Fu on one table, while on the other side of the divide - hardly the Great Wall of China - saw Masters and Welsh Open champion Mark Selby was up against Mark King. Click the PLAY button to hear Mark Selby.
With plenty of oriental support in the theatre - while an estimated 150 million fans tuned in back in his homeland - Ding enjoyed the opening salvo, taking a 3-1 lead by the mid-session interval. Listen to Ding's reaction.
Across the floor - the stge area is divided into two - there was a shock on the cards. Selby let a 5-4 overnight lead slip away, losing the first four frames of the day to trail 8-5 at the interval.
There was no indication of the mini-collapse, when Selby opened with a break of 41, King - who knocked out Jimmy White in the qualifiers - replied with 29 but Selby missed a simple yellow which cost him the frame.
King's confidence was rising and a 73 break saw him go 6-5 ahead, before he faltered on 42. But the Leicester potter spurned several chances as he fell further behind, before a 63 break increased King's lead to 8-5. Hear King's reaction.
Selby had to come out fighting after the interval, and he managed to pull the first two frames back at 8-7, boasting an impressive break of 108.
But the 34-year-old Essex cueman bettered that in the next frame, pouncing after a missed black off its spot by Selby, to accumulate a 116 and leave himself needing just one more frame to reach the second round for the fifth time in a long career.
A tactical battle in the 17th frame saw Selby, beaten in the final by John Higgins last year, keep his Crucible campaign alive at 9-8.
But a break of 71 finally ended Selby's stay in Sheffield, as King earned a second-round date with Peter Ebdon.
Ding was now back in action on the other side of the partition, taking the first frame to extend his lead to 4-1 - much to the delight of his army of fans in the crowd, plus the masses of Chinese journalists on the sidelines.
The former UK champion looked in fine form, falling just short of a century on 99, to stretch his lead to four frames.
Fu, who reached the semi-finals two years ago, has had his best season to date - beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix - and finally started to show his class with breaks of 78, 103 and 100 to reduce the deficit to 5-4.
And the shift in power moved to Fu in the early evening exchanges, as he won three out of the first four frames to lead 7-6 at the mid-seesion interval. Listen to Fu's reaction.
Question marks have been hanging over Ding's temperament, but he showed few nerves on resumption, cracking out two frames including an impressive 114 break to lead once more at 8-7.
This match was turning into a real battle, as the pair exchanged frames, Fu finding a 40 break to go to 8-8 before Ding took the next and stood one frame away from victory and a meeting with Stephen Hendry.
This seesaw match deserved a deciding frame and Fu obliged, 9-9.
Sheffield-based Ding was first in the scoring, but floundered on 15, yet held his nerve to win 10-9.
Former Crucible champion Mark Williams made swift work of his first-round match against Mark Davis, leading 8-1 overnight, he eased through 10-3.
For the best in snooker coverage at the Crucible follow this link.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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