Determined Aussie Neil Robertson eased past Ding Junhui to claim the fourth ranking tournament victory of his career and MySnookerStats watched the drama unfold…
Perhaps tonight’s Grand Prix final was always destined to be an anti-climax after the classic semi which saw Robertson triumph over Higgins by the slenderest of margins, thanks to a fortunate leave from an attempted double of the final frame’s final black. And yet this match started with some sparkling snooker, particularly from Robertson who took a 4-3 lead whilst also claiming his 99th and 100th tournament centuries.
Ding was first into stride in the evening and levelled the match at 4-4 with two decent contributions, but it was the next frame which was to prove pivotal. And epic!
Some scrappy exchanges saw Ding burying his head under his towel as Robertson pushed himself to the brink, but a bad kick on the yellow encouraged Ding from his seat needing just one snooker, and after a series of fine attempts he eventually trapped his man. Unfortunately he just as soon let him squirm away by missing a number of gettable chances on the brown leaving Robertson to pinch it.
It was a body-blow to Ding who from this point seemed to tire very quickly. Robertson kept it tight to offer him no encouragement and it was always just a matter of time before the Aussie could claim the prize which his performances throughout had merited.
| Neil Robertson | 9 – 4 | Ding Junhui |
|---|---|---|
| 94% | Pots | 89% |
| (253/269) | (151/170) | |
| [9/18] | Long | [8/15] |
| 90% | Posn | 86% |
| (222/247) | (127/148) | |
| 81% | Safe | 79% |
| (81/100) | (79/100) | |
| 27s | Shot Time | 27s |
| 59% | Table Time | 41% |
| Frames | ||
(       ) 124 | 124-1 17:30 | 1() |
| () 22, ( ) 46, ( ) 25 | 97-24 16:56 | 24() |
| () 37, ( ) 1, ( ) 1 | 43-72 29:54 | 28(), 26( ), 18( ) |
| () 31 | 35-84 23:11 | 80() |
| 0-118 15:43 | 6(), 112( ) | |
| () 108 | 108-13 18:23 | 13() |
| () 17, ( ) 43, ( ) 1 | 66-5 14:45 | 1(), 4( ) |
| () 13, ( ) 7 | 20-95 20:33 | 48(), 47( ) |
| () 19, ( ) 13, ( ) 18, ( ) 6, ( ) 6, ( ) 15 | 77-52 57:00 | 32(), 2( ), 3( ), 4(  ) |
| () 29, ( ) 36 | 73-5 15:52 | 5() |
| () 46, ( ) 25 | 79-34 18:41 | 8(), 22( ) |
| () 1, ( ) 9, ( ) 1, ( ) 15, ( ) 32, ( ) 2 | 60-21 36:38 | 1(), 20( ) |
| () 89 | 89-10 11:30 | 1(), 1( ) |