Stuart ‘Ballrun’ Bingham beat Ding Junhui 5-4 within the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters after an outrageous incident of their deciding body on Tuesday.
After a high-quality encounter wherein each gamers traded huge breaks, Ding seemed to be heading for victory within the ninth and ultimate body.
The Chinese language competitor was properly in among the many balls when he potted a routine black ball with screw and cut up the pack of reds.
Nevertheless, whereas taking part in the black with drive, the tip on his cue inadvertently flew off his cue, bounced off the desk, and hit one other crimson ball.
Albeit extraordinarily unlucky, it was shortly deemed a foul and Bingham duly took benefit.
After a quick interlude for tip repairs, the gamers returned and Bingham made a match-winning break to advance to the final 16.
“Ballrun Bingham strikes once more,” the 2015 world champion quipped in a social media put up after, referencing his luck-inspired nickname.
Ding had by no means been behind earlier than the weird episode, 4 instances main just for his opponent to reply.
The duo exchanged breaks of 140, 124, 101, 94, 76, 68, 63, and 50, so it was a disgrace an entertaining affair needed to finish in such a way.
Eighth seed Ding wasn’t the one prime 16 participant to endure defeat in what was their opening fixture of the profitable rating occasion.
Certainly, it was a desperately poor day for a number of higher-ranked stars who gained’t be seizing the chance to earn mega rating factors in Riyadh.
Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Luca Brecel, Ali Carter, Tom Ford, Jak Jones, Barry Hawkins, and John Higgins all misplaced as properly.
Amongst these, Allen’s was arguably essentially the most surprising with the Pistol solely managing to win one body towards Xiao Guodong.
Selby obtained the quick straw by drawing Neil Robertson and misplaced 5-3 to his fellow former world champion.
For Brecel, a 5-2 reverse to Pang Junxu heaps additional strain on his tour survival ambitions this season.
The Belgian Bullet continues to be ranked as excessive as quantity six within the official world rankings however is languishing down at 62 on the provisional end-of-season standings following a dismal spell of kind.
As regular, solely the highest 64 gamers on the finish of the marketing campaign will probably be assured their future tour playing cards as professionals.
Among the many marquee names to achieve the sixth spherical have been Ronnie O’Sullivan, Kyren Wilson, and Judd Trump.
O’Sullivan, in contrast, coasted to a 5-1 success over Lei Peifan, whereas the in-form Wilson beat Liu Hongyu 5-3.
Zhang Anda, in the meantime, undoubtedly produced the efficiency of the day courtesy of his 5-0 demolition of Ben Woollaston.
Zhang compiled three breaks of 138 and a 128 as he whitewashed the Englishman, who scored simply 15 factors.
Mark Williams had a extra strenuous outing however finally outlasted Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in a decider.
Shaun Murphy and Gary Wilson have been the opposite seeded contenders who made it by way of after respective 5-2 wins towards Yuan Sijun and David Gilbert.
On Wednesday, the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters continues, and the eight quarter-finalists will probably be decided by the tip of the day’s play.
Tuesday’s Outcomes (Rd 5)
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Liu Hongyu
John Higgins 2-5 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ding Junhui 4-5 Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Lei Peifan
Zhang Anda 5-0 Ben Woollaston
Tom Ford 2-5 Si Jiahui
Luca Brecel 2-5 Pang Junxu
Judd Trump 5-4 Wu Yize
Jak Jones 3-5 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson 5-2 David Gilbert
Mark Selby 3-5 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 3-5 Elliot Slessor
Barry Hawkins 1-5 Scott Donaldson
Mark Allen 1-5 Xiao Guodong
Wednesday’s Matches (Rd 6)
12pm UTC+1
Judd Trump vs Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson vs Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy vs Elliot Slessor
Scott Donaldson vs Xiao Guodong
6pm UTC+1
Kyren Wilson vs Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams vs Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Zhang Anda
Si Jiahui vs Pang Junxu
Click on right here to view the total draw, together with up to date outcomes.
Featured picture credit score: WST
