Barry Hawkins beats Ding Junhui by 13 to 5

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World number six Barry Hawkins defeated Chinese snooker superstar Ding Junhui by 13 to 5 on Wednesday at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield, Britain, booking a seat at the semi-finals of the 2018 Betfred World Championship.

Trailing behind by 5 to 11 after the first day, Ding would have needed a "miracle" to turn the tide in the last nine frames. However, since beginning of the 17th frame, Ding remained out of sorts and kept missing easy balls. Though he did not give up, a sudden scratch put an end to his efforts and forced him to the edge.

Barry Hawkins strikes and defends steadily to defeat Ding Junhui. /VCG Photo

Ding ran out of luck – if he had any – as he offered the table to Hawkins after scoring only seven points. The Englishman took the chance and soon finished the already one-sided game with a break of 117.

Before meeting Hawkins, Ding was on fire and took out Xiao Guodong and Anthony McGill. Since Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson were already eliminated, Ding seemed to be in the best position to win the 2018 Betfred World Championship.

Struggling in tough games has stopped Ding Junhui from winning more titles. /VCG Photo

Nonetheless, again, Ding suffered from what is becoming his mental fragility and trailed behind Hawkins 5 to 11 after 16 frames on the first day. "Rocket Ronnie" O'Sullivan said Ding was like a cheap tent that could easily collapse under pressure. Mark Selby said Ding seemed to give up if he could not find his game at the beginning.

"I punished him (Ding) every time he made a mistake and when someone is doing that against you, it is easy to miss a few. I managed to keep him under pressure. And there is a lot of pressure on his shoulders too," said Hawkins, who will face either Mark Williams or Ali Carter in the tournament's semi-finals.