Ding is the Master in historic all-Asian final as Fu wilts at Wembley

Fu had to wait until the third frame to register his first point as Ding – who is based in Sheffield during the snooker season – flew out of the blocks with breaks of 120, 74 and 61 to reach the halfway point of the first session 3-1 up.

Fu hit back after Ding took the fifth but the world No 4 pressed home his advantage by claiming the last two frames of the afternoon to take a four-frame lead in the best-of-19 match.

After beating former world champions Graeme Dott and Mark Williams on his way to the final, Ding went into the match as odds-on favourite and he stamped his authority on the game immediately.

The Chinese cueman, who capitulated 10-3 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2007 final, took advantage of a careless safety shot from Fu to take the first frame with a fluent 120 break.

A poor break-off from Fu allowed Ding straight in in the second and he took full advantage, cueing brilliantly to win the frame with a 74.

Fu accidentally opened up the pack with a long safety in the third to bring Ding back to the table but he could not capitalise fully and his opponent came back to finally register his first pot, 47 minutes into the game.

The 33-year-old then potted the cue ball going for a red but Ding jawed a long shot from baulk and Fu held his nerve to sink a difficult pink to the middle on his way to an 80 break to claim the third.

Ding made it 3-1 after a tight fourth with a 61 break before the Chinese star edged the next frame after Fu slammed a risky brown into the jaws.

Fu came back from 4-1 down to beat Mark Allen in the semi-final and easily found some rare rhythm in the sixth. The world No 18 had to rely on a bit of luck to clinch the frame though, fluking a blue with the score at 27-0 before easing to an 82 break to make it 4-2.

Both players missed easy shots in a scrappy seventh that was eventually decided by a 60 break from Ding as he moved into a 5-2 lead.

Desperate to make an early impression in the last frame of the session, Ding missed a difficult red but he was not in his seat for long, returning to the table after Fu flashed a relatively easy red wide to move into a 6-2 lead.

Fu came out fighting after the interval to grab the next two frames with a 69 and a 56.

Ding looked down and out in the 11th after struggling to get out of a snooker, but an excellent positional shot meant Fu potted the white with two colours left on the table and the 23-year-old cleared up to make it 7-4.

Ding then re-established his four-frame lead with a faultless 94 which included a tight black.

The mid-session interval provided no respite for Fu over-ran on position and Ding clinched a famous victory with breaks of 83 and 85.