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World Snooker: McManus fights back against Ding (Includes interview and first-hand account)

Alan McManus has made a spirited comeback in his snooker championship match against China’s Ding Junhui. In the first session, Ding played superbly and led 5-0 at one point and ended up 6-2 ahead overnight. This included four century breaks.

At the start of the second session, Ding again began in superb style, compiling his fifth match century – a fine effort of 138. McManus, however, answered back with a century of his own. The Scotsman’s break of 107 was his first over 50. This did not slow the Chinese player down, for Ding knocked in two further big breaks, this time of 90 and 97 to extend his lead to 9-3.

At this stage, things looked bleak for McManus. However, the 45 year-old veteran produced some of his best form of the tournament and reeled off four frames in succession. Here he too showed he was capable to producing a series of big breaks. McManus compiled breaks of 136, 125 and 55. With the break off 55, McManus made a great effort to win the fifteen frame 85 points to 63 when it had looked as if Ding would move10-5 ahead.

The most entertaining part of the match was McManus’ finish to his 136 total clearance. Potting the pink, McManus was out of position on the final black. Lining up the cue ball, he sent the black around the table and off four cushions and into the pocked to complete the break. This met with rapturous applause from the Crucible Theatre audience.

In the end the thrilling session ended with Ding’s lead cut to just two frames, at 9-7 to the player from Jiangsu.

However, into the third session Ding reasserted himself and closed out the days play 14-10 in front. In the early stages of the session it seemed as though Ding was wobbling a little as McManus put Ding under pressure in closing to 8-9. However, Ding pulled away with the help of a break of 113. The final frame of the day was a tense affair with both players having a good chance to win it. It was also a key frame, resulting in McManus being either two or four frames behind. In the end a slack safety shot on the last red by McManus let Ding in for a 35 break to the black and a four frame cushion going into the final session.

With the second semi-final, Marco Fu played better compared with his form during the first session. Mark Selby won the opening session 5-3. However, on day two of the epic encounter, Fu won five of the opening seven frames. This included a stylish break of 135 and a second century, of 114, to level the match at seven frames apiece. Fu then took the lead with a solid contribution of 81. However Selby, less convincingly, won the last frame of the session 81 points to 34 without any breaks of significance being made.

At one stage Selby led 7-4. However, a few unexpected misses coupled with a much stronger performance from Fu, saw the balance of the match swing towards the player from Hong Kong. An example of how much Selby had slipped was seen in the sixteenth frame, when a loose safety shot let Fu in for another break building opportunity. This time Fu could not exert his dominance and the frame became a scrappier affair and Selby secured only his third frame of the day.

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Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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