• UK Championship

Walden ends Ding's bid for history

Walden halted Ding's run in York © Getty Images

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Ricky Walden ended world number three Ding Junhui's ambitions of a fourth consecutive ranking title with a 6-4 win at the UK Championship.

Two-time champion Ding arrived in York on the back of triumphs at the Shanghai Masters, Indian Open and International Championship knowing no player had won four ranked events in a row since Stephen Hendry in 1990.

The tight match looked destined for a deciding frame when Walden missed a yellow in the 10th, but Ding then missed a regulation pink, leaving it over the middle pocket.

Walden duly returned to the table to seal a 6-4 win and book a spot in the last eight against Mark Allen in the process.

Allen made it to the quarter-finals by avenging his defeat in the 2011 final to Judd Trump, winning four successive frames to come back from 4-2 down.

Trump started strongly and took the opening two frames, and led 3-1 at the interval, as Allen struggled to find his form in the opening stages.

But Allen took advantage of a number of Judd errors to get back into the match and set up a re-match with Walden, who he beat in the semi-final in 2011.

Reigning champion Mark Selby navigated past Scotland's Graeme Dott 6-2, while Ronnie O'Sullivan made short work of Robert Milkins - easing to a comfortable 6-0 victory to advance to the quarter-finals unscathed to keep his hopes of a sixth UK Championship alive.

In Wednesday's other encounters Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson booked their place in the quarter finals with 6-1 victories over David Morris and Joe Perry respectively.

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