O’Sullivan clinging on as Ding piles on pressure

DING JUNHUI produced a sparkling display at the Crucible to lead Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-6 in their Betfred World Championship quarter-final.

Every frame of the morning saw a break of 50 or more, Sheffield-based Ding taking a 3-0 lead before O’Sullivan levelled the session at 4-4, but the Chinese player pulled ahead in the evening session.

Ding took frame one with a 71 break and followed that up with a magnificent 128 clearance to double his advantage. It got better for the world No 4 in his adopted hometown as another run of 71 put him further ahead, with O’Sullivan barely getting to the table.

But the 41-year-old hit back with a 63 to finally get on the scoreboard before the midsession interval and took the next two after the restart with runs of 99 and 65 to level the match.

Ding scraped the next on a respotted black despite a 69 break from the five-time champion, who finished off with a run of 59 to restore parity.

The pattern continued into the evening as Ding returned with a frame-winning 63 clearance in frame nine.

O’Sullivan came from behind to win the next but was unable to repeat the dose in frame 11 after over-running a positional shot to the black.

Ding took that one and made it 7-5 at the interval. He then resumed with a 120 break and went on to stretch his lead to 10-5 with a 58 in frame 15.

O’Sullivan, though, produced a defiant rapid-fire 104 in the final frame to give himself a chance.

John Higgins needs just two more frames top clinch a semifinal spot, leading 11-5 overnight against Kyren Wilson.

Reigning champion Mark Selby moved closer to a place in the semi-finals after storming to a 6-2 lead over Marco Fu.

The world No 1 was at his devastating best as he reeled off the first five frames of the match before Fu hit back by taking two of the last three of the afternoon session to give himself a glimmer of hope at the Crucible.

Barry Hawkins resumes today with a 5-3 lead against Stephen Maguire, relieved to have won the last two frames of the session.

Today sees Ladies Day return to the World Championship at the city’s Winter Garden as the sport looks to encourage women to participate in snooker, as players, fans or officials.