I think the last time I awaited a final as eagerly as the one that we will see tommorow was in 1993 when Ronnie O'Sullivan at the age of 17 played Stephen Hendry in the UK Final.
Again tommorow we will see the young pretender playing the master and I expect to see a fast flowing final with many frames won in one visit by both players.
Ding has been the outstanding player this week at Wembley. He knocked in that superb 147 in the first match of the tournament and the commentators and studio guests at the BBC have been so impressed with how he closed out his matches against Stephen Lee and Stephen Hendry with one visit frames.
If Ding has a flaw in his game then that is his shot selection.Against Ebdon he was on course to win 6-2 but then at 5-2 played to split the reds off the black when Snookers were already needed by Ebdon. He missed the black and Ebdon went on to win that frame after getting a snooker and O'Sullivan is more than capable of doing the same so Ding will need to be careful.
I've also been very impressed with Ronnie this week. I've just watched his semi against Maguire and must say that it was the worst match I've ever seen Ronnie play in. Maguire played so poorly and appeared to drag Ronnie's game down. However to Ronnie's credit he kept his cool and grinded out the win that he needed and also won a few frames in one visit.
I think the reason why Ronnie kept his cool was the fact that he wants to play Ding in the final.
With 4,000 people watching live and most of them O'Sullivan supporters and also with playing against Ding, I believe we will see vintage O'Sullivan tommorow.
To beat Ding, O'Sullivan will need to be at his very best tommorow.
It's an intriguing prospect and I can't wait.
Again tommorow we will see the young pretender playing the master and I expect to see a fast flowing final with many frames won in one visit by both players.
Ding has been the outstanding player this week at Wembley. He knocked in that superb 147 in the first match of the tournament and the commentators and studio guests at the BBC have been so impressed with how he closed out his matches against Stephen Lee and Stephen Hendry with one visit frames.
If Ding has a flaw in his game then that is his shot selection.Against Ebdon he was on course to win 6-2 but then at 5-2 played to split the reds off the black when Snookers were already needed by Ebdon. He missed the black and Ebdon went on to win that frame after getting a snooker and O'Sullivan is more than capable of doing the same so Ding will need to be careful.
I've also been very impressed with Ronnie this week. I've just watched his semi against Maguire and must say that it was the worst match I've ever seen Ronnie play in. Maguire played so poorly and appeared to drag Ronnie's game down. However to Ronnie's credit he kept his cool and grinded out the win that he needed and also won a few frames in one visit.
I think the reason why Ronnie kept his cool was the fact that he wants to play Ding in the final.
With 4,000 people watching live and most of them O'Sullivan supporters and also with playing against Ding, I believe we will see vintage O'Sullivan tommorow.
To beat Ding, O'Sullivan will need to be at his very best tommorow.
It's an intriguing prospect and I can't wait.
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