2014 UK Championship - Stunning Cahill beats Ding

The wonder boy of snooker - James Cahill

The Barbican Centre from York has surely seen some impressive matches over the years, but what happened yesterday in that genuine battle of cues between young James Cahill and superstar Ding Junhui, is definitely going to the history books.

The 18-year-old lad, who happens to be Stephen Hendry's nephew (which could explain why he's so good at snooker, but not entirely) beat Ding Junhui in a feverishly match that lasted almost six hours.

Ding started the match with a terrific 134 clearance but as the mid-session interval was starting, he saw himself being led 3-1 after James topped with a break 100.

After the interval, Cahill continued his dominance and won a really scrappy affair and yet another frame by performing a 57 clearance to go just one step away from victory, at 5-1.

Ding leaves the competition

But if someone can pull out a comeback that's Ding Junhui and that's exactly what happened during the next frames, the Chinese superstar hitting in runs of 32, 25, 60 and 55 to trail by 5-4.

It could have ended there as during the 10^th frame James was in amongst the balls building himself a nice break, but suddenly he just got carried away by the moment and missed an easy red with the rest at 57.

That left Ding in need of three snookers, but the experienced player managed to get into a tremendous safety battle which granted him with a free ball and in the end with a 25 clearance which forced the decider.

As the last frame started Ding was in with the first chance, but missed a red on 32, Cahill coming for a 56 break and another tiny one of 15 points to seal a much-desired victory over the Chinese wonder.

Ronnie's ankle is better, can the Rocket fly now?

Ronnie O'Sullivan seems to be back in business, as his ankle is much better, the victory he got against Ben Woollaston being a living proof of that.

The battle started as a very balanced one, at the interval the lads being all square at two apiece after Ronnie took the first and third frame with breaks of 64 and 56, Ben taking the remaining two with just a top of 87.

However, after the mini-break it was a one-way street towards victory for The Rocket, O'Sullivan using a combo-pack of breaks (65, 104, 44 and 84) for a 6-2 scoreline.

Funnily enough in the interview after the match, Ronnie said it felt a bit weird to play against a fast player (him being a bit slow due to his ankle injury) and as was sitting in his chair he was thinking that that's how probably most of the players he plays against feel like.

Good news from the defending champion Neil Robertson, who seemed to have found his form and beat Peter Ebdon by 6-2.

Robertson's back in business

Robertson used breaks of 74, 108 and 84 to go 3-1 at the interval and another series of 70, 78 and 65 to seal his victory, while his fellow vegan mate only managed to capture two frames with a top break of 45.

Stephen Maguire registered the same scoreline by playing Welshman Mark Williams, and showing the audience some pretty intensive cue action.

The first two frames were captured with runs of 64 and 132 before Williams broke the ice and got himself into the match properly with a top break of 46. Still, by the time the interval kicked off the gap between these two was bigger, as Maguire scored 90 points to go 3-1 up.

Maguire on fire

The 5th frame was entering Williams's pocket after the last of the balls was being potted (51 clearance), but Maguire took care of the rest with an incredible collection of big breaks (87, 80 and 33) to end the match at 6-2.

Scotland's Graeme Dott proved to be merciless in front of Robert Milkins who was kneeled down with no less than three tons (117, 120 and 127) and a crystal clear scoreline of 6-0, while Stuart Bingham and Joel Walker fought like lions for 11 frames, in the end Stu prevailing the endurance test.

Rod Lawler saw off Mark Allen by a 6-4 scoreline, while Mark Davis booked himself a place into the Last 16 after a 6-5 victory over Joe Perry.

Full list of results:

Robert Milkins 0-6 Graeme Dott
Neil Robertosn 6-2 Peter Ebdon
Ben Woollaston 2-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Joel Walker 5-6 Stuart Bingham

Ding Junhui 5-6 James Cahill
Mark Williams 2-6 Stephen Maguire
Rod Lawler 6-4 Mark Allen
Joe Perry 5-6 Mark Davis