Ding Junhui of China defeated Martin O'Donnell of England 6-1 in the first round of the World Snooker Tour (WST) International Championship in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday, progressing to the round of 32.

Ding clinched five straight frames to build up a huge advantage early in the match. Both players made mistakes in the sixth frame before O'Donnell came out on top. The seventh was a defensive battle from the beginning, with Ding prevailing on brown in the end.

Ding will face Hossein Vafaei of Iran next.

The defending champion, Zhang Anda of China, knocked out David Grace of England 6-3 in the round of 64. The titleholder held a 5-1 lead following a century break and a 96 break. Although Grace claimed the next two frames to close the gap to 5-3, Zhang sealed the deal in the ninth frame to advance.

Zhang will play his compatriot Lyu Haotian in the next round.

Seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan of England beat He Guoqiang 6-2 after crafting breaks of 73, 87, 83, 70, 58, 53 and 72, securing his first win over the Chinese crowd favorite this year.

"There are so many good Chinese players, who are technically very good and play amazing games," O'Sullivan said. "That was the third time I've played this guy and he beat me the first two times. For me, it was a big match and I had to just block out that I'd lost the previous two and try to play my game."

"The Rocket" will face another home player, Pang Junxu, in the round of 32.