World number four Ding Junhui dominated the second session of his World Championship quarter-final with Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan to take a 10-6 lead.
\nHaving shared eight frames in the opening session, the pair began Tuesday evening by winning a frame each. But breaks of 64, 65, 120, 59 and 56 ensured China\u2019s Ding took complete control of the 25-frame match. However, a typically rapid 104 break stopped the rot for five-time winner O\u2019Sullivan and gave him hope.
\nIt was another two hours of gripping entertainment that maintained the trend of a break of at least 50 in every frame.
\nIn the other game to resume on Tuesday evening, Scotland\u2019s John Higgins stormed into an 11-5 lead against 25-year-old Kyren Wilson. The afternoon session saw reigning champion Mark Selby build a 6-2 lead over Hong Kong\u2019s\u00a0Marco Fu, while Barry Hawkins is 5-3 ahead against Scottish qualifier Stephen Maguire. Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan has described himself as being \u201ca bit like James Blunt\u201d Ding, 30, has not beaten world number 12 O\u2019Sullivan in a ranking event since his 9-6 victory in the Northern Ireland Trophy in 2006. There is a strong possibility of that run coming to an end at the Crucible after his stunning display on Tuesday evening, which began with a frame-winning 63 clearance in the ninth.
\nO\u2019Sullivan came from behind to win the next but was unable to repeat the feat in frame 11 as Ding seized control.
\nStorming into a 7-5 lead before the interval, he resumed with a 120 break and went on to stretch his lead to 10-5 with a 58 in frame 15. O\u2019Sullivan, though, produced a defiant rapid-fire 104 in the final frame to give himself a chance of matching Stephen Hendry\u2019s record of playing in 12 World Championship semi-finals.
\nWorld number 14 Wilson had levelled from 2-0 down in the morning, helped by a 92 break, but damaged his cue tip and, after a brief stoppage for repairs, saw four-time Crucible champion Higgins open up a 5-3 lead with breaks of 62 and 59.
\nThe Scot began the evening with a 129 and, after the next two were shared, added breaks of 74 and 135 either side of the interval to lead 9-4. Wilson responded well with a 97 but Higgins won the last two to leave himself two frames from victory at 11-5.
\nWorld number eight Fu has got used to doing things the hard way at this year\u2019s tournament, having fought back from 7-2 down to beat Luca Brecel and recovered from 4-1 behind to see off Neil Robertson.
\nThere seemed little chance of a comeback when he trailed world number one Selby 5-0, the Leicester man finding some of his best form to compile breaks of 80, 72 and 94. Fu went more than an hour without potting a ball before taking a scrappy sixth frame and making it 5-2 with a stylish break of 60. But Selby got Fu in a fuddle on the final red and went on to take a four-frame advantage at 6-2. They resume on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World number four Ding Junhui dominated the second session of his World Championship quarter-final with Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan to take a 10-6 lead. Having shared eight frames in the opening session, the pair began Tuesday evening by winning a frame each. But breaks of 64, 65, 120, 59 and 56 ensured China\u2019s Ding took complete control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n