World No. 4 Ding Junhui took a surprise 10-6 lead over five-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Championship on Tuesday.
The Chinese star needs three more frames to defeat the crowd favorite. Their fight resumes on Wednesday afternoon.
Ding, the defeated finalist last year, won six of the eight frames in the night's second session as the Rocket made numerous unforced errors.
Ding won the first frame with a break of 63 to go 5-4 ahead, and he led 42-0 in the next, only for O'Sullivan to hit back with an 84 clearance.
The 30-year-old Ding won the next five frames to go 10-5 in front. O'Sullivan managed to win the last with a run of 104 which took just five minutes, the fastest century of the tournament so far.
Elsewhere, four-time champion John Higgins is just two frames away from the last four as he extended his advantage over Kyren Wilson to 11-5. Defending champion Mark Selby took a 6-2 lead over Hong Kong potter Marco Fu after their opening session. Barry Hawkins led Stephen Maguire 5-3.
