Ding Junhui produced a sparkling display at the Crucible to lead Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-6 in their Betfred World Championship quarter-final last night.

Every frame featured a break of 50 or more, Ding taking a 3-0 lead before the Chigwell star levelled the morning session at 4-4, with the Chinese player pulling ahead again in the evening.

Ding took frame one with a 71 break and followed that up with a magnificent 128 clearance to double his advantage. It got better for the world number four as another run of 71 put him further ahead, with O'Sullivan barely getting to the table.

But the 41-year-old hit back with a 63 to finally get on the scoreboard before the mid-session interval and took the next two after the restart with runs of 99 and 65 to level the match.

Ding scraped the next on a respotted black despite a 69 break from the five-time champion, who finished off with a run of 59 to restore parity.

The pattern continued into the evening as Ding returned with a frame-winning 63 clearance in the ninth.

O'Sullivan came from behind to win the next with an 84 but was unable to repeat the dose in frame 11 after over-running a positional shot to the black.

Ding cleared with 64 and made it 7-5 at the interval with a 65. He then resumed with a 120 break and went on to stretch his lead to 10-5 with breaks of 59 and 58.

O'Sullivan, though, produced a defiant rapid-fire 104 in the final frame to give himself a chance.