Ding delighted to end title drought

Ding Junhui spoke of his relief after ending his three-year famine without a ranking tournament title by winning the Pukka Pies UK Championship for the second time.

The Chinese star overcame John Higgins 10-8 in a marathon final which ended past midnight at the Telford International Centre to repeat his 2005 success.

Ding has now risen to number six in the provisional 2010-2011 rankings after being in danger 12 months ago of dropping out of the top 16.

He said: “It is great to win this title for a second time. I have been a long time not winning tournaments. I am so happy to end that run.

“I have struggled with my game in recent times. I have had some bad shot selection. I chose the wrong balls and made it difficult to build breaks. I learnt from that.

“During the first match here I was not that focused but after the first match I came back and concentrated more and played better.”