Ding masters German Masters

Ding Junhui, the 2014 German Masters champion

Ding Junhui added one more trophy to his beautiful collection by beating Judd Trump 9-5, in the final of the 2014 German Masters held in Berlin's Tempodrom. 

So after a magical victory in Shanghai, after winning the Indian Open and beating Marco Fu to take on the International Championship’s trophy, Ding is slowly but surely, in his way to break Stephen Hendry's record of winning five consecutive major ranking events. He didn't win the UK Championship, but seeing him rocking around that snooker table, tells you that sooner or later we shall see this “Chinese wonder” take over the Scotsman's record.

But getting back to the German Masters final, it must be said that many have seen Judd as favourite to win. Especially since the Englishman seemed so focused, so composed and eager to win throughout the entire competition. No wonder that when the final started, he rushed in and took the opener with a break of 80.

Judd Trump, the 2014 German Masters runner-up

Ding replied with a break of 87 to level the match at one apiece, but Trump was definitely "in the zone", runs of 48 and 39 helping him to grab two consecutive frames and a valuable 3-1 lead.
But the reigning Shanghai Masters champion wasn't impressed and with a 76 break was pulling back a frame.

Still, this wasn't the start of a comeback, as Trump furiously responded with breaks of 35 and 33 to go 4-2 ahead, with two more frames to be played in this session.

Two more frames that Ding captured by hitting in runs of 51 and 81, for a perfect draw of 4-4 and a fresh start from "zero" in just a few hours.

Focused Ding

When the players re-entered into the arena, Ding unleashed his brilliancy and started potting one ball after another. A beautiful break of 125 was the one that was putting him in front, a position that he’s never held since the start of the match, while runs of 101, 72 and 38 were smoothing his way to the finish-line.

From the player who saw himself being led by one of the most dangerous players on tour, Ding was now just one frame away from lifting that most-desired trophy.

But Trump wasn't going to give in so easily, so when Ding started to make a few mistakes, Judd was there to capitalise on them. So a few misses, a foul and a free ball and Trump was keeping the match alive. It was 8-5.

The last frame made its debut with a long red missed by Trump, this leaving Ding in charge of the match's faith. But 11 points later he was missing the brown, Judd getting one more chance to make a difference.

Ding posing with his new trophy

Sadly, the Judd Trump that all snooker fans love and adore was no longer there: the pressure and the frustration of having his opponent just one step away from victory messed with his head, and so he went on missing a very important shot while entering the bunch or reds.

With the reds nicely spread one might think this was over ... wrong! Ding only managed to pull out a break of 36 before missing a long red to the yellow pocket, thus granting Judd's a life-line.

Unfortunately for the 2011 UK Championship winner, a careless shot on the blue, left him with just a break of 31, Ding returning to the table and clearing with a 20 break (well, almost clearing, for the black jumped off the table - probably of excitement).

A notable nervous, but above all happy Ding Junhui, shared his thoughts about this victory with Germany's top snooker commentator Rolf Kalb, mentioning that he's happy to have started the new year with such an important victory (the Chinese new year has started on 31^st of January) and that he hopes to win even more tournaments.

The Tempodrom arena

One more time I, as well as many others, find ourselves in the position of playing with the idea that maybe, just maybe this year we shall see a Chinese world champion at the Crucible.

But even if we don't, it must be said that Ding managed to bring that lost sparkle to the German Masters tournament. Although I'm a huge fan of this competition and of snooker being played in Germany, I must confess that not having a sponsor, as well as bringing the entire gang of 64 players here, has left me with the impression that I was watching a PTC, rather than a major ranking event.

On the other hand though, the people's reaction towards snooker and the way the crowds have been supporting the players this past week, shows how much German people love their snooker. So maybe it won't hurt to give them a more "proper" tournament. Just saying!