CHINA’S Ding Junhui became the first player to reach the semifinals of this year’s World Snooker Championship after thrashing Mark Williams 13-3 inside two sessions Tuesday.

    Williams, world champion in 2000 and 2003, was largely reduced to the role of a spectator, as Ding — who had to come through qualifying — made short work of seeing off the Welshman.

    Ding scored at least a half-century in every frame he won as he increased his first-session lead from 6-2 to 10-2 at Sheffield’s Crucible Theater in northern England.

    Williams potted a mere two balls before the mid-session interval and, although he won the 13th frame, the two-time champion could not stop Ding’s march to victory.

    “I played really well,” Ding told World Snooker. “From the first session I was winning 6-2 and I kept going and played well again.

    “Mark didn’t have much luck, some bad kicks, so I got some easy shots and made breaks.

    “I’ll enjoy the day off tomorrow, rest and get ready for the next one,” he added ahead of a semifinal that will see him face either John Higgins or Alan McManus. Four-time world champion Higgins has a 5-3 overnight lead against his fellow Scot.

    But Ding said: “It doesn’t matter who I play. I’ll just do it the way I did and think about myself.”

    No Asian player has ever won the world title but Ding could be joined in this year’s last four by Marco Fu of Hong Kong.

    Fu was 7-1 up against England’s Barry Hawkins at the end of their first session.

    Hawkins beat snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-12 Monday, surviving a fightback by the five-time world champion that saw him level at 12-12 before he regained his composure to win in a final-frame decider.

    The Englishman appeared to have an idea of what was coming against Fu when he said: “I’ve got another really tough game against Marco so I will just concentrate on that.”(SD-Agencies)