On January 8, 2024, the ** Masters continued to be fierce, and O'Sullivan defeated Chinese star Ding Junhui 6-3 and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals. Next, he will face the winner between Robertson and Hawkins. In the seventh game of the game, Ding Junhui scored 147 points again after eight years. The Masters is one of the three major tournaments in the world, competing with the World Championships and the British Championships, with a prize fund of up to £250,000. Although the Masters is an invitational tournament and does not count towards points, it still attracts the top 16 players in the world rankings. This year, Chinese players Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda qualified for the competition and competed fiercely against many famous players. However, China's Anda Zhang lost to Shaun Murphy early in the first round, highlighting the gap between him and the top players. Ding Junhui, ranked 11th in the world, has won 14 ranking tournament championships, including 3 British Championship championships and 1 Masters championship. Although his competitive form has declined and he is far from his peak, he has recently rebounded and successfully defeated Trump to advance to the final, proving his quality.
However, this tournament was not good for him, and in the first round of the first round against the No. 1 ranked O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui's chances of winning are not great. And O'Sullivan, as a legendary player of ** gram, has absolute strength and is the favorite to win the championship in every competition. However, the biggest problem he faces at the moment is age, which makes it difficult for him to stay focused, and his performance is prone to ups and downs during matches, with frequent sudden mistakes. Despite the huge prize money in the Masters, there are fewer rounds, which is still relatively suitable for O'Sullivan. The two fighters have faced each other a total of 32 times in their careers, while Ding Junhui has won only seven. At last year's British Championships, O'Sullivan defeated Ding Junhui 10-7 and won his 40th ranking championship. The two had competed for the Masters title, and O'Sullivan won easily. Although Ding Junhui reversed O'Sullivan 6-5 in the exhibition match some time ago, this was not officially recorded in the prize money and results. After the start of the game, both sides made mistakes in the first game, and O'Sullivan hit a single shot of 67 points to lead 100-27. And Ding Junhui's state was not ideal, in the second game, O'Sullivan seized the opportunity to win 74-37.
In the third game, Ding Junhui only scored 32 points to interrupt the attack, and then O'Sullivan scored 87 points in a single stroke. In the fourth game, O'Sullivan continued to maintain his advantage, scoring 106 points in a single stroke and winning another game. After the break, Ding Junhui played a 56-point clearance in the fifth game and reversed the score 61-59. Immediately afterward, he hit another 92-point shot in the sixth round and won the round. In the seventh game, Ding Junhui scored an impressive 147 points, which was also the seventh time in his career that he had completed a perfect score. However, in the eighth game, O'Sullivan hit a single shot of 127 points and took the lead to get the match point. In the end, in the ninth game, O'Sullivan ended the game twice and defeated Ding Junhui 6-3. After the rewrite: After the intermission, Ding Junhui quickly set off a counterattack, reversed the score 61-59 in the fifth game, and scored 56 points. Immediately afterwards, he won again in the sixth game, winning with a single shot of 92 points. In the seventh game, Ding Junhui amazed the audience, scoring an impressive 147 points, which was also the seventh time in his career that he had completed a perfect score.
However, O'Sullivan scored a single shot of 127 points in the eighth game and took the lead to get the match point. In the end, in the ninth game, O'Sullivan ended the game twice in a row and defeated Ding Junhui 6-3.