Ding Junhui put in one of his best displays at the Crucible ever to gain a commanding lead against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the World Championship quarter-finals.

Ding Junhui. Picture by Monique Limbos

The Chinese number one put in a wonderful performance of attacking snooker to lead the five-times world champion 10-6 overnight.

It means Ding stands just three frames away from reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship for a third time.

O’Sullivan, who was outplayed by Ding in several periods tonight, will need to make a strong start on Wednesday afternoon if he is to avoid being knocked out.

DING PLAYS O’SULLIVAN AT HIS OWN GAME

Level at 4-4 from this morning’s opening session, Ding regained the lead with a break of 63 to start the evening session on a good note.

And Ding looked a firm favourite to go 6-4 in front when he led by 42 points but a mistake was duly punished in typical O’Sullivan style when the world number 12 hit back with a run of 84 to level the scores.

But from that point on it was total Ding domination.

Ronnie O’Sullivan. Picture by Monique Limbos

China’s number one, runner-up at the Crucible last year, played some impressive snooker as long shots and solid breaks delighted the crowd and upset the bookmakers cards.

Breaks of 64, 65, 120, 59 and 58 from Ding turned 5-5 into a huge and possibly significant 10-5 lead.

However O’Sullivan ended the session in style with a break of 104 to show that the match is far from over. A fascinating final session awaits at 2.30pm tomorrow.