Ding off to a flyer in Galway with maximum break

Ding Junhui fired a maximum 147 break in the opening frame of his quarter-final against Mark Allen at the Dafabet Players Tour Championship Grand Finals in Galway.

China’s leading player had four previous maximums to his name, and the fifth gave him the perfect start to his clash with Northern Irish potter Allen.

The next two frames went to Allen, however, in the best-of-seven tussle.

Earlier, Leicester’s Tom Ford knocked out Hong Kong’s Marco Fu to become the first player to reach the last four. Ford, 29, was a 4-1 winner against the recent German Masters runner-up.