Chinese sensation Ding Junhui received a harsh lesson in life as a professional as he was crushed in the first round of the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York last night.
The 17-year-old from Shanghai, who has been described as a potential Tiger Woods of snooker, lost 9-3 to Dominic Dale at York's Barbican Centre having trailed 7-1 after the opening session.
Ding is widely considered the brightest young star in the game and took the World Under-21 Championship when just 15.
He beat Jimmy White at last week's British Open in Brighton and was rated by the bookmakers as having an equal chance of winning this event to world number nine Stephen Lee.
But his opponent, though far from consistent, is capable of beating anyone on his day as he proved by capturing the 1997 Grand Prix and Dale was in terrific form, knocking in breaks of 72, 98, 68, 74 and 101.
Click on the link below for all last night's scores.
