We have reached the seventh day of the Pukka-Pies UK Championship in Telford and the afternoon session of  the first semi-final between Ding ”The Dragon” Junhui and Stephen ”On Fire” Maguire has just ended with Ding leading 5-3.

Maguire was the first player to come in and play and reached 29 points. Ding made a few short visits to the table only to hand over to Maguire who scored another eight points. Some tactical defensive shots were made but Maguire was the one who won the defensive battle and confidently took the frame.

Frame two was all Ding’s until he missed a red ball. Very unfortunate. After a couple of shots from both guys, Ding managed to take control of the frame again and levelled at 1-1.

The Chinese looked strong in the third frame, playing almost flawlessly and taking the lead at 2-1.

At first Ding seemed to have the upper hand in the fourth frame and Maguire made a couple of mistakes he normally wouldn’t make. After a while though he found an opening and managed to steal the frame from Ding. Very well played by Maguire.

Ding took 68 points with the first thing he did in the fifth frame and left 67 points on the table for Maguire. Maguire managed to snooker him and a small flame of hope was lit but the position of the rest of the reds was too unfavourable and Maguire had to concede the frame.

So far in the match Ding looked like the better player even though Maguire was trailing only one frame. Ding split the balls perfectly at the exact right moment and won the next frame with an 83 break.

At this point, Ding dominated when it came to potted balls, with 100 to Maguire’s 49.

Frame seven began with Maguire snookered on the red balls and fouling twice. More snookers were then produced and Ding fouled as well. Ding then came in on a long red and made some incredible shots to score 31 points. The timer came up to show that Maguire hadn’t potted a ball in 34 minutes. He really had to improve his game if he wanted to even have a chance of winning this. But Ding took command once again and went to 5-2 before Maguire knew it.

Last frame of the session was crucial for Maguire. He could either go to a convenient and more secure 5-3 or a not quite as hopeful 6-2. First thing that happened was Ding missed a long ball and let Maguire in. The reds were well positioned and Maguire split them perfectly. After having barely potted a red Maguire fell out of position though and had to leave over to Ding. However, after a few clever safety shots from Maguire, Ding missed a fairly easy red ball and let Maguire back in to draw closer at 5-3.

For a while Maguire looked disheartened but he managed to pull himself together by the end of the session and reach a not too shabby result.

Commentator Ken Doherty compared the players after the first break and suggested Ding’s typical poker face might give him an advantage to Maguire’s more emotional image.

It remains to be seen if Maguire’s state of mind can change for the better tonight when this thriller of a match continues.