China's Ding edges Gould to reach last 16 at snooker worlds

China's Ding Junhui in action during a qualifying game against Martin Gould of England at the world snooker championship in Shefield, England, April 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

SHEFFIELD, England - Former world number one Ding Junhui reached last 16 of the world snooker championship after coming back from behind to knock out the 12th seed Martin Gould on Wednesday.

Ding, who entered the tournament as a qualifier for the first time since 2007, went ahead 4-1 and took a 5-4 lead over Gould.

Gould, winner of his first full-ranking event at the German Masters in Berlin back in February, quickly drew level at 5-5 after Ding missed the final blue when attempting to clear at the start of the evening. He moved into lead at 8-6 and looked sure to advance into the next round.

Ding, however, was to produce some of his best snooker, breaks of 65 and 132 enough to bring the Chinese number one back to 8-8, before he added runs of 86 and 100 to move one away from the victory at 9-8. He went on to take the more closely contested 18th frame for a 10-8 victory.

Gould became the sixth seeded player to exit this year's tournament in the first round.

"I played quite good at the start," said Ding. "I made a few breaks to lead 4-1 and after he played better and fought back to put some pressure on me. He produced a good performance today also.

"Tonight I had a chance to go 7-7 and I lost that frame, but I tried not to think about that. Afterwards I thought to myself to go for everything, take the first chances that I got.

"I am feeling good. Terry (Griffiths) is doing a very good job to me. He is telling me to try and make things easy because the world championship is a long tournament."

Ding will next take on the winner between Judd Trump and compatriot Liang Wenbo, who led 6-3 overnight.