Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Ding Junhui to seal record-extending eighth UK Championship title – 30 years after his first

Updated 04/12/2023 at 00:09 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan has made more history. Two days before his 48th birthday, The Rocket claimed a record-extending eighth UK Championship with a 10-7 win over Ding Junhui at the Barbican Centre in York. In doing so, O’Sullivan becomes the youngest and oldest winner of this prestigious competition and lifts the trophy 30 years after he first won it as a 17-year-old.

O'Sullivan emotional as he clinches UK Championship glory with stunning clearance

Ronnie O’Sullivan secured a record-extending eighth UK Championship title with a 10-7 victory over Ding Junhui in York.

The world No. 1 and his close friend Ding treated the supporters inside the Barbican Centre to some moments of dazzling snooker, but in the end, O’Sullivan simply proved too strong for his opponent as he claimed his 40th ranking title success.

With his victory, which comes 30 years after his first triumph as a 17-year-old, O’Sullivan becomes the youngest and oldest winner of this prestigious competition.

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He will also be £250,000 richer by the time his 48th birthday comes around on Tuesday.

"Each tournament I win, I get great pleasure out of," said O'Sullivan.

"Tonight I just had to come out tonight and have a good head. I thought if I was going to lose I had to make Ding earn it.

"There’s a big crowd here, I wanted to give them their money’s worth. Bloods, sweat and tears at the table. I gave it my all.

"I keep beating myself up because of the age thing, I keep thinking at some stage it's going to stop. But I'll keep going until the wheels fall off!"

Ding had fired back to produce a 4-4 scoreline at the end of the afternoon session having been 3-1 down in the final.

The momentum shifted after the restart as O’Sullivan ended a run of 421 unanswered points from Ding to take the initiative in the ninth frame, making it 5-4 with an impressive break of 84.

It felt like O’Sullivan was back in business in the following frame as he quickly got back among the balls before managing a snooker. Ding executed an escape, O’Sullivan gambled and missed a long blue and was made to pay with the frame.

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The Barbican crowd were being treated to breakneck snooker played at a frightening pace. O’Sullivan built an early 25-point lead in the 11th frame but showed signs of frustration when he dropped the rest on the table having missed a red to the left corner.

In the end it didn’t matter as Ding left a red hanging over the pocket, conceding an opportunity to steal the frame and O’Sullivan moved ahead once again.

O’Sullivan gave himself breathing space in the match by extending his lead to 7-5 at the mid-session interval after Ding’s brave, attacking shot left the world No. 1 with a kind table and he duly took advantage.

O’Sullivan returned the favour in frame 13 when a mistake left Ding with a variety of balls to choose from, and although he couldn’t see the frame off in the same visit, he had almost done enough. A delightful plant earned an ovation from the crowd and helped secure the frame.

Ding was clearly growing in confidence and after delivering a starter to the right corner following a loose break-off by his opponent, he was back in business in the 14th frame. And this time he saw it off in the first visit, displaying his beautiful break-building capabilities with a brilliant century.

At 7-7 the match couldn’t be any more finely poised. But was O’Sullivan showing any signs of nerves? It appeared not as he nailed a long starter and rapidly crafted a century of his own in just seven minutes. Vintage Ronnie.

O’Sullivan then restored his two-frame lead and moved to within one of victory – but not without incident. Playing a thin contact, Rob Spencer called a foul on O’Sullivan but the referee had another look and changed his mind.

Ding’s pain was compounded when he missed a shot to the left-middle pocket. It was far from a straightforward table for O’Sullivan but, in typical ice-cool fashion, he remarkably cut the pink into the middle pocket and made the frame safe.

After forcing Ding into a foul-miss, O’Sullivan turned on the style to see out the victory, making a fine break of 129.

Afternoon session

O’Sullivan had two aborted breaks at the start of the first frame as he moved 25-0 clear, but Ding allowed him back in and it was third time lucky, with a break of 71 giving him an early advantage.

The second frame saw Ding get going with an excellent long pot, and he developed nicely around the black and involving the blue as he went 63-0 up, but in a shot that could have clinched the frame the pink clipped the jaw of the middle-right pocket to leave his lead at 63-37, only for O’Sullivan to return to take the frame.

In frame three, Ding started well but mis-cut a black to limit his first visit score to 38. O’Sullivan was ruthless as he put away a 91 break, dealing well with two awkward reds, and needing a rest to get around the table. A nudge off the blue set him up well for the brown, and he had little trouble with the remaining colours to win 91-38.

In the fourth frame, Ding built up a brief run on the table, but a sloppy shot forced him to play safety, which O’Sullivan escaped.

Ding missed a long pot, which allowed O’Sullivan back in until he undercut a red into the middle-left pocket to leave the table 31-10 up.

Ding then returned with an impressive 89 clearance to wrap up the frame, his first of the match-up.

In the fifth frame, O’Sullivan took a 40-16 lead before an extended period of safety play with four remaining reds. An outstanding long-range pot from Ding set his rival up with a tough snooker behind the yellow that gave him the chance to edge back in front, 45-40, but another error from Ding allowed the Englishman to regain his three-frame advantage.

O’Sullivan inadvertently fouled when using the rest and bridge rest, and allowed Ding to cut the deficit once more as he fell short of a half-century break.

'Breathtaking' - Ding keeps himself in UK Championship final with long red

Ding then started to show more verve at the table as he attacked the bunch, taking a risk but earning a chance to build a sizeable break with some outstanding cueing, though there was a moment’s worry when a blue just dropped into the middle-right pocket when it looked ready to stop agonisingly short.

At that point, he needed a red and another colour, which he achieved while attempting to open up more reds, before picking off a tough one to the bottom-left as he deftly built a frame-winning 115 century break.

While Ding’s positional play sometimes required the rest, he was fluid when he had to use it and he set about putting together another hefty score in the session’s final frame as he moved 70 clear.

With 75 remaining, O’Sullivan was allowed back in when Ding was stuck with a touching ball, but he failed to take his chance with an awkward red hanging over the left pocket, and Ding came back in to tie the scores ahead of an intriguing evening session.