Betway 2019 UK Championship

[Billy]

Actually, Ding's list of big matches where he's lost from a commanding position is almost empty. He doesn't tend to crumble in situations like this one much. :smile:

Yeah, never take betting tips off me.

However I've never been happier to be proved wrong. I like Maguire, a lot, so my delight is purely at Ding's win, not Maguire's loss.

I know the match was over, but that yellow to then run off two cushions and move the black away from the final red was one of the greatest shots I've ever seen

[JimMalone]

I said earlier this match reminded me of the 2016 final between Selby and O'Sullivan... Well, that one had five centuries in the last six frames, and tonight did as well, in almost identical circumstances. :smile:

I guess Maguire will look back at the start of the match when he missed some easy balls to go 4-0 down. He started to play really well after that and matched Ding in the remainder of the match, but he could never make up that 4-frame gap. In any case, it's nice to see him reach a big final again after a while, and the good thing for him is that his home tournament starts tomorrow, so hopefully he can carry that form to Glasgow and do some damage there. :smile:

Fantastic to see Ding back to his best as well. He was pushed somewhat close by Carter and O'Sullivan in the early rounds, but there is no doubt at all that he was the best player in the tournament. He never once looked in trouble, even when strong players were coming back at him in matches. He kept his composure and just raised his game when he needed to. I guess we have another name we have to keep an eye on in the big tournaments in the second half of the season, not least the World Championship of course. If he plays anything like he did today, he will be tough to beat over multiple sessions. :smile:

I didn't like it quite as much as the 2016 final, which was also one of my favourite matches though, so the bar was set pretty high, but it was a great final, that made up for an otherwise modest tournament.

I've always maintained that when Ding is playing well, he's close to Selby and Higgins as the most complete player of this game. But since years he has his ups and downs and as the old sports saying goes: It doesn't matter how good you are when you're playing well, but how good you are when you're playing bad. So I'm still cautious for the remainder of the season. But yeah, as in the past few years I'll root for Ding to finally lift the World Championship trophy.

Also happy for Maguire for his best result in quite a time.
Two very likeable guys.

[peterpackage]

So glad Ding won, Maguire showed some stuff this week too.

great final, so many centuries by both players to finish

Good for snooker

[Rane]

A great match and good to see Ding and Maguire back on the top again. It was very clear it meant a lot to Ding. I don?t remember ever seeing him celebrate so much and beeing so open after a match. And great to see Maguire keeping his composure for all the match. He has been his own greatest enermy over the years. I had come to a point where I had started doubting if we would ever see Ding compete in a final of a trippel crown event again and even though the UK Championship isn?t what it used to be, it?s still counted along with the other trippel crown titles.