STUART Bingham lost a thrilling 6-Red World Championship snooker final on the final ball to Ding Junhui.

The Bowers Gifford potter was beaten 8-7 by the Chinese player in a terrific final, bringing to an end an excellent tournament for Bingham, who showed some of his best form on the way to the showpiece on Saturday morning.

Bingham had won all five group matches in the build-up to the knock-out rounds and was looking in fine fettle en-route to the final.

He beat Mark Williams (6-5), Dominic Dale (6-1), Akani Songsermsawad (7-4) and Stephen Maguire (7-1) to set up a final against Ding, and it was a cracker.

Bingham edged a fine opening frame and snatched it on the black, with that indicating the final could be one that would live long in the memory.

But Ding won frames two, three and four to move 3-1 ahead. Bingham won three of the next four frames but, at 7-5 down, things were looking bleak.

Bingham battled back to 7-7 and the final frame was thrilling, with just the black remaining on the table.

And it was Ding that potted it to claim the crown ahead of the Shanghai Masters later this month.