China's elite professional snooker player Ding "The Dragon" Junhui advanced to the next round of the 2016 Betfred World Championships at Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Wednesday.

The former world No. 1 Chinese star staged a remarkable come-from-behind 10-8 victory winning four straight frames in a row to outlast the 2016 German Masters champion and  current world No. 12 Martin Gould of England.

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With the win, Ding is through to the last 16 of the tourney, while Gould became the sixth seeded player to be eliminated in the first round of this year's snooker event.

Ding began the opening round with a good start, winning four of the first five frames of the match. However, Gould, who was the 12^th seeded player of the tournament, bounced back and immediately drew level at 5-5 following a miss by Ding on the final blue when attempting to clear at the start of the evening.

The 34-year-old cueman from Pinner, London won three of the next four frames and took an 8-6 lead, but the Chinese No. 1 was able to produce breaks of 65 and 132 that brought Ding back to 8-8, before making runs of 86 and 100 to move one away from claiming the victory at 9-8.

Ding, 29, who is the only Asian player to have held the world number one position, wrapped up the win by winning the 18^th frame of the match.

"I played quite good at the start," Ding, who has won 11 ranking titles under his name, said. "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."

Ding will play either compatriot world No. 18 Liang Wenbo or world No. 5 Judd Trump in the second round of the competition. He had played both players at the Crucible previously, beating Liang Wenbo 10-8 back in 2009 and yielding to Trump in both 2011 and 2015.

TagsDing Junhui, betfred world championships, martin gould, crucible, judd trump, Liang Wenbo