Ding seals final spot

Ding Junhui booked his place in the final of the Pukka Pies UK Championship with a 9-5 victory over Stephen Maguire in Telford.

The stage looked set for a tense battle when Maguire won the first two frames of the evening session to level the scores at 5-5.

But Ding took the next four in succession to set up a final showdown with either Ronnie O'Sullivan or John Higgins on Sunday.

Maguire won the evening's tight opening frame on the black and then enjoyed a massive slice of luck to win the next.

Ding needed a snooker with just the blue, pink and black remaining, but secured it when Maguire failed to swerve around the pink.

However, Maguire then fluked the blue into the middle pocket with his next shot to get back on level terms.

If Ding was rattled at being pegged back he certainly showed no signs in the next frame, rattling in a total clearance of 134 to get back in front.

And from then on it was one-way traffic, the Chinese star completing victory with a break of 69.