Ding records highest break of season so far - 13/11/2008

DING Junhui produced the highest break of the 2008 PartyPoker.com Premier League season on his way to a routine win over Steve Davis.

Ding Junhui in action against Steve Davis

It has been a disappointing competition for Davis and his four previous defeats had left him bottom of the table with no chance of qualifying for the semi-final.

However, with £1,000 for each frame won and a similar bonus for any century breaks, there was still plenty of money for Davis to play for.

But the opening frame went against Davis as he missed an early red and left a lot of reds on.

Ding capitalised perfectly be producing a tremendous clearance of 139. This was the eighth century of the 2008 PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker season but also the highest, five more than Ronnie O'Sullivan's 134 against Ding in October.

Both players had chances in the second but the critical moment came when Davis, after compiling a break of 32, overcut a red into the corner pocket. Ding's subsequent 72 break doubled his lead and he was showing his best snooker of the tournament.

Davis left a tough red on at the start of the third and Ding produced his third fine break, this time of 78, before his run came to an end when he failed to pot a pink, the first missed pot he had produced from three frames.

Davis had not done much wrong so far but was playing an opponent at the top of his game.

The match between the two ended 6-0 in Ding's favour in 2007 and it looked like being a repeat as Ding went 4-0 ahead as Davis was heading towards his fifth consecutive defeat of the league season.

Ding moved 32-0 ahead but then had to play safe but was soon back at the table as Davis went in-off and Ding then compiled his fourth break of the match of more than 50.

Frame difference could prove crucial at the end of the competition if Ding ends up on the same amount of points. So he would have been disappointed to lose the fifth as he made a rare error by going in-off and Davis punished him with a break of 70 to avoid a whitewash defeat.

Davis ended the night on a high as he claimed the sixth frame thanks to a succession of fine safety shots to clinch the sixth by a 69-51 margin, although Ding still won the match four frames to two.

Ding Junhui 4-2 Steve Davis
139-0 (Ding 139), 103-32 (Ding 31 and 72, Davis 32), 104-0 (Ding 78), 92-4 (Ding 32 and 56), 1-74 (Davis 70), 51-69 (Ding 51)