YORK, England, 18 December 2005 — Chinese teenager Ding Junhui edged closer to a place in the final of the UK Championship yesterday when he opened up a 5-3 lead over England’s Joe Perry in their best-of-17-frame semifinal.
The 18-year-old Ding cheered the crowd by hitting three century breaks as well as playing some shots left-handed as he set his sights on a final showdown against veteran Steve Davis.
Perry, the world No. 14, took the opening frame 79-0 but back came the Chinese star with a half century to pull level before going on to build a 3-1 lead. Perry gave away 36 points in fouls in frame four. The Englishman cleared up with 27 to trail 3-2 and but for a kick in the sixth frame he might easily have squared the match. Instead, Ding cued his way to a superb 76 followed by an even better 129 to go three up for the first time. Perry racked up a 76 break to trim his deficit to 5-3 at the end of play but Ding requires just four of the remaining nine frames later y to book his first ever appearance in a ranking final in Britain.
Davis made sure of his place in the final on Friday with a 9-6 win over Stephen Hendry.
