Ding Junhui admits he confused himself as he spurned chance to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Masters

Ding Junhui admitted that he confused himself towards the finish of his Masters first spherical conflict with Ronnie O’Sullivan, as he let a 5-Three lead slip to a 6-Three defeat.

Ding performed beautifully in the first half of the match, opening up a 3-Zero lead, and regardless of O’Sullivan battling again, China’s primary would transfer 5-Three forward.

With breaks of 129, 128, 83, 75 and 73, Ding didn’t appear to be he was about to lose three frames on the spin, however that’s precisely what occurred.

The 33-year-old had wonderful probabilities to win the match in the ninth and 10th frames and was even provided a possibility in the decider when the Rocket missed a crimson to center.

However, it was not to be and he was left to remorse his misses reasonably than keep in mind his wonderful break-building.

Ding felt that the lack of crowd took the stress off the match, however it nonetheless acquired to him in the finish.

‘It feels like a practice game, it doesn’t really feel pressured,’ Ding instructed Eurosport. ‘I had a lot of chances to win the match and I didn’t make it.

‘Sometimes I made it a bit difficult to take into consideration successful the frames, to make the positions.

‘Sometimes just make simple shots and take more points, sometimes I confused myself.’

Ding missed a easy crimson to win the match 6-Three and also will remorse taking up a really tough brown in the closing body, which proved to be his closing shot.

However, he says he did little unsuitable over the match and praised O’Sullivan for his wonderful efficiency in coming again.

‘I still had chances, I still potted long ones,’ continued Ding. ‘Maybe simply with out that silly match shot.

‘Nothing really wrong, Ronnie just played a bit better than the first half. Also, maybe sometimes I chose the wrong positional shots.’

O’Sullivan felt that he was outplayed in the early levels, however it was his superior psychological energy that noticed him over the line.

‘He started off well, I didn’t actually get into the sport,’ mentioned Ronnie.

‘I simply tried to nick a few frames, when it acquired to 3-2 I believed it might get a bit thrilling, however he pulled away once more.

‘I believed, “am I capable of putting three frames in against someone like Ding” however I had to ignore that and simply give attention to one ball at a time and see what develops.

‘You’ve acquired to attempt to put some stress in your opponent and I didn’t do this early in the sport, however Ding performed nicely, you’ll be able to solely play as nicely as your opponent permits you.

‘It was more of a mental battle out there, it always is, if you can get the mental skills right, whether you play well or not, you’ll be powerful to beat.’

MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan’s exhausting work pays off with epic Ding Junhui victory at the Masters

MORE : Stephen Maguire ‘lost the plot’ earlier than very good Masters upset of Mark Selby

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