O'Sullivan and Ding share points after drama in the last - 16/09/2010

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN is still looking for his first victory in the 2010 PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker competition.

O'Sullivan drew his first match 3-3 against Marco Fu and had a similar result with Ding Junhui here at the Plymouth Pavilions. However, O'Sullivan was left rueing a miss on the pink with only two balls left on the table in the last that would have gave him the victory.

"I should've potted the pink but I missed it and you don't deserve to win if you miss balls like that," said a disappointed O'Sullivan.

Ding came into this match desperately needing a win after falling to a 5-1 loss against reigning Premier League champion Shaun Murphy in the first week of the competition in Southampton.

O'Sullivan was also aiming to claim his first victory of the 2010 tournament after drawing 3-3 with Marco Fu in his opener.

Ding made a flawless century of 122 to take the first but the second frame was a bit scrappy and lasted more than 20 minutes.

Despite a number of fine safeties from both players, the pair struggled on their potting before O'Sullivan eventually edged towards a 1-1 scoreline.

O'Sullivan, who won the competition for five successive seasons before losing to Murphy in last year's final, looked back to his best in the next with a masterful break of 119 to go 2-1 in front.

But Ding was not giving up and he pulled it back to 2-2 with a break of 89, although he would have been disappointed to not have gone on to make a century break and claim the £1,000 bonus.

O'Sullivan ensured he would avoid defeat in Plymouth when he won the fifth rack. It was a superb break of 67, where O'Sullivan seemed to find himself and then recover from difficult positions from every shot, that took the Englishman into a 3-2 lead.

Both players had chances in the sixth but in the end Ding edged the frame to claim a crucial point. O'Sullivan missed a pink into the centre and that looked to give Ding the frame but he then failed to sink a tricky long blue. But there was another twist as O'Sullivan missed the pink and with it lying in a tempting position, Ding did not even have to pot it.

DING JUNHUI 3-3 RONNIE O'SULLIVAN (best of 6)
Ding's scores first
128-8 (Ding 122), 33-71, 0-119 (O'Sullivan 119), 95-0 (Ding 89), 7-67 (O'Sullivan 67), 53-44