Ding Junhui has landed his first ranking title for nearly five years after beating Chris Wakelin 10-7 in the final of the International Championship.
The 37-year-old delighted the fans in Nanjing as he ended his ranking event drought and won his first title in China since the World Open in September 2017 and his first anywhere since the 2019 UK Championship.
It is the second time Ding has won the International Championship, a significant event on the calendar, which will see the winner pick up £175,000 in prize money.
Wakelin fell short against the Chinese icon, but still enjoyed a fantastic week and the £75,000 he claimed for his runner-up spot is the biggest financial reward of the 32-year-old’s career to date.
The Englishman also climbs into the world’s top 16 for the first time, helpfully just before the UK Championship so he will be seeded straight through to the Barbican in York and avoid qualification.
However, it is Ding who has his hands on the brilliant trophy and has claimed a 15th ranking title in the process, still sitting ninth on the list of ranking event winners.
It was Wakelin who made a bright start to the final, taking an early 4-1 lead with four half-centuries along the way, not showing any nerves in the biggest match of his career.
However, the wheels came off a bit and the more experienced man found his feet to win the next six frames, ending the first session 5-4 ahead and then starting the second session well.
The underdog finally stopped the rot and did so impressively with breaks of 82 and 89 to get back in tough at 7-6 behind.
However, Ding was still playing well, with breaks of 98 and 72 to go one from victory and getting over the line in the 17th frame.
Roads to the International Championship final
SF: 9-6 Xu Si
QF: 6-4 Kyren Wilson
L16: 6-3 Jiang Jun
L32: 6-0 Hossein Vafaeil
L64: 6-1 Martin O’Donnell
L128: 6-0 Reanne Evans
SF: 9-8 Xiao Guodong
QF: 6-5 John Higgins
L16: 6-4 Mark Williams
L32: 6-3 Shaun Murphy
L64: w/o Zak Surety
L128: 6-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Ding’s run to the final saw him dominate the early rounds as he lost just one frame across wins over Reanne Evans, Martin O’Donnell and Hossein Vafaei.
Things got trickier as he beat Chinese teenager Jiang Jun and then picked up an excellent win over world champion Kyren Wilson.
He found himself behind early in his semi-final against compatriot Xu Si, but came back strongly to win 9-6 and secure his spot in the showpiece.
Wakelin won his qualifier and then was handed a walk-over in his opener in Nanjing as Zak Surety pulled out.
Then came a superb run of wins over Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams and John Higgins, before a nail-biting 9-8 semi-final victory over Xiao Guodong.