December 3rd 2023.
Sunday's UK Championship final will see two of the greatest snooker players in the world, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui, go head-to-head.
Ding is relishing the chance to take on the 'Rocket' and believes that playing the greatest of all time will bring out his best game. He has had a fantastic run in York this year, making it through qualifying last week and then going on to beat Mark Allen, Tom Ford, Mark Williams and Judd Trump in the semi-finals.
The Chinese star is looking forward to the challenge of facing O'Sullivan over the best-of-19 frames and is glad to have the support of his Chinese fans. He said, "It is great to play Ronnie in the final. We haven't had that many chances to face each other. The Chinese fans especially love to see it. I love to play against Ronnie. I want to play well and maybe win the match. This is what I dream of, he was my hero when I was a little boy."
Ding has not won a ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, where he beat Stephen Maguire in the final. He believes that taking on O'Sullivan in a big match will bring out the best in him. He told Eurosport, "I like to play the greatest players of all time. I like to play them in good form, in a tough match, that's how I improve my game. I like this, my game is not strong because I have not had good matches against top players. When I play them in the past few seasons I didn't play well. It looks like no fighting [from me], it's not good, but a game like this will help my game. My snooker is improving when I play like this all the time."
Ding has had some great successes against Ronnie in the past, including thrashing him 6-0 at last year's UK Championship and beating him in the last 16 on his way to winning the 2019 title. However, Ding has struggled in finals against O'Sullivan, losing heavily in the 2018 Grand Prix, 2014 Welsh Open, 2011 Premier League, and 2007 Masters. His only win against O'Sullivan in a final was back at the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy.
O'Sullivan has already won the UK Championship more times than any other player and is looking to lift the trophy for an eighth time on Sunday. He has been pushed hard this week, needing deciding frames to beat Rob Milkins and Zhou Yuelong, but breezed past Hossein Vafaei 6-2 in the semi-finals and is feeling good. He said, "I feel as fresh as a daisy. I can do it quite comfortably. I'm still happy to have got this far, it's great and I have enjoyed my week."
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