Ding Junhui wins 2024 International Championship to end ranking title wait


Victory in Sunday’s title match means Ding regains the International Championship crown he previously won in 2013, and earns him a £175,000 payday which pushes him up to eighth in the world rankings when the standings are next updated.
This latest glory represents the 15th ranking event title of Ding’s illustrious career and puts an end to a 257-week interval since his last ranked accolade at the 2019 UK Championship. China’s greatest-ever player remains ninth on the all-time list of players with the most ranking titles, but he now moves three clear of Shaun Murphy who is in tenth.
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Coming into this tournament, Ding was languishing on the one-year rankings list having not reached a single ranking event quarter-final this season. However, he dropped just one frame in his opening three matches, defeated Jiang Jun in the last 16, stopped reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson’s winning streak in the quarter-finals, and then recovered from 5-2 down to deny Xu Si in a 9-6 victory in the semi-finals.
Similar to that success in the last four, Ding had to come from three frames down early on in the title match against Wakelin, who registered breaks of 63, 92, 85 and 64 in establishing a 4-1 lead.
However, Ding would finish the opening session ahead. Efforts of 57 and 80 helped him close the gap to just one before he took frame eight on the final black to level at 4-4. The 37-year-old also deposited the last frame of the afternoon's programme - on the colours - to move ahead for the first time in the tie.
On resumption a few hours later, breaks of 66 and 63 aided Ding to stretch his winning streak to six consecutive frames and strengthen his profit to 7-4, although Wakelin responded brilliantly, halting that sequence with contributions of 82 and 89 to narrow the gap to one as they headed to the final mid-session interval of the final.
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After the intermission, Ding replied with a 98 in frame 14, although former Snooker Shoot Out winner Wakelin kept battling away in the biggest match of his life as he took frame 15 for 8-7.
Ding again resisted to being pulled level, though, and roared on by passionate home support, he secured the next two frames along with breaks of 72 and 64 to complete an emotional victory which had been a long time coming.


His first professional trophy of any description at home in China since 2017, Ding zips up the one-year rankings and surely guarantees himself a spot at all three Players Series events later this term. He also books a place at next week’s Champion of Champions in Bolton.
Although Wakelin may initially feel disappointment, he can look back on his week’s work in China with immense pride and take stock on what has been a big breakthrough tournament for his career.
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The 32-year-old Englishman eliminated world champions in three successive rounds and in as many days before standing up to huge pressure in the semi-finals when he survived a comeback from Wuhan Open Champion Xiao Guodong before ousting him a deciding frame.
On top of booking a place in his third ranking event final, that victory over Xiao guaranteed Wakelin a place in the world’s top 16 rankings for the first time in his career, meaning he will be a top seed for the upcoming UK Championship in York. It also puts him in a strong position to make a debut appearance at the Masters in January.
The next event on the World Snooker Tour is the 2024 Champion of Champions from the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Bolton which takes place between November 11-17. Our tournament information centre is here.
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