THE teenager who took the UK snooker title in York last night might not be playing in next year's World Championship finals.

Although 18-year-old Chinese ace potter Ding Junhui has won snooker's second biggest prize he is not guaranteed a place in the line-up for Sheffield's Crucible.

Junhui, who is being hailed as a future world champion, defeated a surprisingly struggling Steve Davis 10-6 in the Travis Perkins UK Championship final at York Barbican Centre.

Junhui's world ranking of 63 - he's the lowest ranked player to have won the UK crown - means that he has to win through qualifying rounds to reach the final stages of ranking events, including the World Championship. He had to win three qualifying rounds to make this month's UK Championship in York.

His triumph last night means that the UK trophy will be leaving the British Isles for the first time in its history when Junhui takes it back home to China.

His sharp long potting and clever tactical play proved too good for six-times world and UK champion Davis, whose phenomenal form of the past two weeks deserted him in yesterday's final.

Davis fought hard to be only 5-3 down at the end of the afternoon session but the only time in the last session that he looked anything like the player he was in getting to the final was when he knocked in a winning 72 break to cut the deficit from four frames to 8-5 behind.

The only time he was ahead in the match was when he won the first frame. For the rest of the time he failed to take opportunities to score well.

Junhui, on the other hand, fired in a 111 in the third frame and despite missing some easy pots his long potting and fine cuts in particular were often telling blows.

"It would have been nice to go one step further but I messed up on my break building and couldn't up my scoring," said Davis, who knocked out defending champion Stephen Maguire, former world champion Ken Doherty and his great rival Stephen Hendry to reach what was the 100th final of his career.

"The blue I missed in frame 12 was critical. It put be 8-4 down instead of 7-5.

"He played better than me and he deserved to win, but I've had a fantastic week.

"Ding has a good all-round game and a good tactical brain," Davis assessed the new UK champion. "He has learnt his trade very quickly and is a very dangerous player."

Junhui, who scored three century breaks (100, 129, 131) in beating Cambridgeshire's Joe Perry 9-4 on Saturday's semi-final, said that towards the end of last night's final he was feeling the pressure because the UK Championship is so important.

"When I started playing snooker and practiced, thoughts of ever playing in the UK final were just a dream," he added.

"I have gained a lot of confidence and experience at this UK Championship and it is a great joy to win."

UK Snooker Championship (at York Barbican Centre)

Final (best of 19 frames): Ding Junhui bt Steve Davis 10-6.

Saturday's semi-final (best of 17 frames): Ding Junhui bt Joe Perry 9-4.

Updated: 09:39 Monday, December 19, 2005