No let-up for Ding

Ding Junhui will get no respite in his hectic schedule as he aims to become only the third man to successfully defend the Maplin UK Championship title.

The Chinese teenager is bidding for back-to-back victories in the sport’s second-most prestigious ranking event immediately after collecting three gold medals at the Asian Games in Qatar.

Since arriving in host city York at midnight last Friday, Ding has won 9-7 against Ryan Day and 9-5 against Matthew Stevens to reach the quarter-finals.

He has yet to have a day off, and today provides the biggest test so far of the 19-year-old’s stamina reserves for he faces a best-of-17-frames clash with Peter Ebdon.

Comfortably the most mentally taxing opponent on the circuit, Ebdon will have no compunction about exposing any weakness in Ding’s make-up – especially with the youngster so tired.

“I’m not feeling very stable just now,” said Ding after ousting Stevens in a performance that contained plenty of his trademark high breaks but also some basic errors due to lack of focus.

“It felt quite hot in the arena and that disturbed me. I’m just relieved to have won because I didn’t play very well.

“I didn’t feel very confident before the match and I was a bit worried in the first session because Matthew played well. But I feel better when I start playing.”

Several top stars, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, have been knocked out of their stride by Ebdon’s methodical style. But while Ding may be suffering physically, he has an unflappable temperament.

Asked what he thought was the best way of dealing with what Ebdon would throw at him, Ding replied: “Just keep potting balls.”

He added: “Peter plays quite slowly and that’s just his way. I’ll just try my best and not think about other things.”

Today’s other quarter-final is between John Higgins and Joe Perry, the latter having knocked out provisional world number one Ken Doherty by winning six of the last seven frames to prevail 9-6.

Perry is again proving he is a specialist in this tournament. He has reached the semi-finals for the last two years.

However, the pick of the match-ups takes place tomorrow when Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry come face to face.

Hendry, this season’s world number one, has not won a title since February 2005 and his position at the head of the rankings is simply due to his greater consistency than the other top stars.

It is not a situation with which he is happy though, and Hendry is determined to re-establish himself as a player regularly contending at the business end of tournaments.

“Slowly but surely I think my form is coming back,” said the 37-year-old after his 9-6 victory over Mark Williams in which he made two century breaks but also some uncharacteristic mistakes.

The remaining quarter-final features world champion Graeme Dott and 1980s legend Steve Davis, who reached the final in York last year and can never be discounted to achieve the same feat again.