Ding Junhui won the latest event in the PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker season to become the first man through to the play-offs.
Ding beat Neil Robertson 3-2 in his evening semi-final and then claimed a 3-1 final victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has won the Premier League title in six of the last seven years.
The latest event came from the Guildhall in Southampton and O’Sullivan and Judd Trump played out a thrilling opening semi-final in front of a capacity crowd.
Trump, who reached the World Championship final in May, made a 139 in the opening frame of the day before efforts of 53 and 89 from O’Sullivan gave him the lead.
But Trump forced the match into a decider, which O’Sullivan clinched with a break of 70.
Robertson, whose journey from Cambridge to Southampton took five hours and left him without enough time to practice on the table, lost the opening two frames in the second semi-final against Ding.
Robertson fought back by winning the next two but scores of 42 and 58 in the last gave Ding the victory to set up a final with O’Sullivan.
After a scrappy start, Ding fouled when he missed everything trying to escape from a snooker and O'Sullivan punished him with a score of 77 to go 1-0 in front.
But breaks of 37 and 30 from Ding helped him make it 1-1. O'Sullivan had a chance after a shock Ding miss that left the red over the pocket but the Englishman was then unlucky to foul.
The third frame was one of the longest of the night as O'Sullivan missed a black off the spot after scoring 31 before Ding went in-off. Ding missed after moving into a slight lead but an O'Sullivan error that left the yellow ball on the table gave Ding a chance and he won the frame on the black.
O'Sullivan looked on course to pull it back to 2-2 and force the third shootout of the day when he held a 17-3 lead. However, he let Ding back in and he finished off the match in clinical style with a break of 76 to win it 3-1.
Week 1 - August 18, 2011 - Embassy Theatre, Skegness Semi-finals: John Higgins v Jimmy White, Neil Robertson v Matthew Stevens. Final: Higgins or White v Robertson or Stevens.
Week 2 - September 1 - Guildford Spectrum Semi-finals: Jimmy White v Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan v Shaun Murphy. Final: White or Williams v O'Sullivan or Murphy.
Week 3 - September 22 - Ravenscraig Sports Facility, Motherwell Semi-finals: John Higgins v Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui v Shaun Murphy. Final: Higgins or Robertson v Ding or Murphy.
Week 4 - September 29 - The Dome, Doncaster Semi-finals: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui v Ali Carter. Final: O'Sullivan or Stevens v Ding or Carter.
Week 5 - October 6 - Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-Super-Mare Semi-finals: Mark Williams v Judd Trump, John Higgins v Matthew Stevens. Final: Williams or Trump v Higgins or Stevens.
Week 6 - October 13 - Biddulph Leisure Centre, Stoke Semi-finals: Mark Williams v Ali Carter, Jimmy White v Ding Junhui. Final: Williams or Carter v White or Ding.
Week 7 - October 20 - Riverside, Exeter Semi-finals: Ali Carter v Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy v Neil Robertson. Final: Carter or Trump v Murphy or Robertson.
Week 8 - November 3 - Guildhall, Southampton Semi-finals: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Judd Trump, Neil Robertson v Ding Junhui. Final: O'Sullivan or Trump v Robertson or Ding.
Week 9 - November 10 - Spiceball Leisure Centre, Banbury Semi-finals: John Higgins v Ali Carter, Mark Williams v Matthew Stevens. Final: Higgins or Carter v Williams or Stevens.
Week 10 - November 17 - Grimsby Auditorium Semi-finals: Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jimmy White. Final: Trump or Murphy v O'Sullivan or White.
Semi-finals Nov 26 Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Norfolk Semi-finals are the first to five. 2nd v 3rd and 1st v 4th
Final - Nov 27 - Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Norfolk The final is the first to seven. Winner of semi-final 1 v winner of semi-final 2.
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