Ding Junhui wrapped up a brilliant win over Michael White in the first round of the Scottish Open only a few hours after taking out Stephen Maguire to lift the UK Championship trophy as well as £200,000 prize on offer.
China’s number one won the UK Championship for the third time in his career after dispatching Maguire 6-1 on Sunday, before drifting to Glasgow for the final tournament in the Home Nations Series.
Despite being on a good run of form, it wasn’t the three-time UK Championship winner who made the first break. Micheal White, who sealed progress to the last-16 – in the UK Championship – at the expense of Mark Williams before bowing out to Stephen Maguire had the brightest start to the game instead. White took the first frame with a break of 76.
However, Ding Junhui soon levelled matters in the second frame with a break of 60. The winner of the UK Championship then took the lead in commanding fashion, with a break of 104 to leave the scores at 2-1.
Fresh from Barbican centre, it doesn’t get tastier than this for the Chinese. He put together a break of 83 to take the fourth frame, putting White in danger of elimination.
A rare miss from Junhui left a red over the corner pocket, affording his opponent a chance to go into the packet, only for him to run out of luck and stick on the pink.
While Michael White wore a frustrated look sitting on his chair, Ding Junhui’s heart must have leaped for joy as he capitalized with the pack already split.
The ‘Yorkshire Dragon’ heralded as the most successful Asian in the history of the sport has made great use of the advantage, registering his second century of the game and clearing the table for a break of 118. Courtesy of a 4-1 win, Junhui has now set up a meet with either Mei Xi Wen or Gary Thomson in the second round.
The former world number one, who now sits eight places behind that spot, had already seen two Chinese players make way to the next round as the duo of Zhang Jiangkang and Yan Bingtao picked up early victories to seal progress to the next.
Written by: Roland Arum
