Ding Junhui of China competes during the second round match against Judd Trump of England at Snooker World Championship 2016 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, on April 25, 2016. Ding won 13-10. (Xinhua/Jon Buckle)
China's Ding Junhui defeated former twice titlist Mark Williams with a session to spare, by a 13-3 scoreline, to reach the semifinals of the snooker world championship on Tuesday.
Ding victory made him the first man into the last four at the Crucible and gave him a day off on Wednesday.
The Chinese super star, who lost 17-15 to Judd Trump in his last semifinal clash in 2011, took a 6-2 lead after the first session and extended his advange to 10-2 in the night session with breaks of 109, 52, 95 and 73.
Williams, who changed his cue tip the night before the match, managed to make it 10-3 after the interval. Ding needed to win the last three frames to avoid a third session battle and he did make no mistakes to seal the victory 13-3.
Ding will next take on the winner between four times champion John Higgins and Alan McManus over 33 frames on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Higgins led McManus 5-3 after the day's competition.
"I got some easy chances in that match," said Ding. "After 2-2 things just changed. I think I controlled the match, I took my chances to make breaks. I have confidence and every time I see a chance I think I can go for it and make breaks.
"Mark didn't play the way he normally does, everyone finds it hard to play with a new tip. The day off is a bonus, I've never had that before, and I'm going to enjoy the day.
Williams said: "I got beat easily and to be honest deep down I knew I was going to get beat easily, so I can't grumble.
"With the players left in, it was probably my best chance to win the world championship again and I felt really confident. But as soon as my tip split last night, I knew that my chances were gone.
"Ding will have to play much better than that to beat John Higgins, if he plays him next.
Elsewhere, Mark Selby took a 10-6 lead over Kyren Wilson and Marco Fu led Barry Hawkins 7-1.
