Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui meet in Sunday’s UK Championship final (Picture: Getty Images)
Ding Junhui is relishing the chance to take on Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the UK Championship on Sunday, believing that taking on the greatest of all time will bring out his best game.
The Chinese superstar has had a fantastic run in York this year, downing Mark Allen, Tom Ford, Mark Williams and then Judd Trump in the semi-finals on Saturday night, all of that after coming through qualifying last week.
It doesn’t get any easier for the three-time UK champion as he faces the Rocket over a best-of-19 with the title on the line, but he is glad to be taking on the world number one on one of the greatest stages in the sport.
‘It is great to play Ronnie in the final,’ he said. ‘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 made it to the UK final last year, where he was beaten by Mark Allen, but has not won a ranking title since 2019 when he won this very event, beating Stephen Maguire.
Four years is a long time without a big title for a player of Ding’s quality, but he believes facing O’Sullivan will bring out the best in him when it matters.
Ding thrashed O’Sullivan 6-0 in last year’s UK Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I like to play the greatest players of all time,’ he told Eurosport. ‘I like to play them in good form, a tough match, that’s how I improve my game. I like this, my game is not strong because I have not had good match 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 fantastic memories of playing O’Sullivan in the UK Championship, thrashing him 6-0 last year in York and downing the Rocket in the last 16 on his way to the 2019 title.
However, taking on the Rocket in finals has not tended to go very well for Ding, ending up on the wrong end of some very heavy defeats.
O’Sullivan has beaten Ding in the finals of the 2018 Grand Prix (10-3), 2014 Welsh Open (9-3), 2011 Premier League (7-1) and 2007 Masters (10-3), with Ding’s only final victory coming way back at the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy (9-6).
Ronnie O’Sullivan produced his best performance of the week in the semi-finals (Picture: Getty Images)
O’Sullivan has already won this event more 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 semis and is feeling good.
‘I feel as fresh as a daisy,” said O’Sullivan. ‘I can do it quite comfortably. I’m still happy to have got this far, it’s great and I have enjoyed my week.’
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan names his ‘most important’ tournaments ahead of UK Championship final
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan and Hossein Vafaei insist the beef is behind them but Judd Trump is not so sure
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Can Ding stop the Rocket?