PETER Ebdon is through to the China Open final after beating home favourite Ding Junhui 6-3. 

Ebdon came back from 3-1 down at the interval to win the next five frames to book his place in tomorrow’s grand final where he will meet Stephen Maguire who earlier reached the final beating Stephen Lee.

The win is a brilliant one for the 2002 World Champion who had to qualify to get to the venue stage of the competition last month and now stands just one win away from winning the China Open trophy.

China’s Ding was looking good and pleased his home fans when he took a deserved 3-1 lead going into the mid-session interval. But Ebdon battled back in his usual gritty and determined fashion and refused Ding an opportunity to get back in with a shout.

At 4-3 ahead, Ebdon needed both the pink and black to claim a vital two-frame advantage, potted the pink brilliantly from a narrow angle and forced a useful position on the final black to take a 5-3 lead. 

A break of 68 put Ebdon in control of the ninth frame before a poor safety from Ding led to the qualifier wrapping up the match and booking his place in the final.

Ebdon will now hope to repeat the success he had in this competition three years ago when he was crowned China Open champion in 2009. Tomorrow’s final will be a best out of 19 match.