CHINA’S Ding Junhui edged out Marco Fu 10-9 in a thrilling end to their first-round meeting at the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield, England, on Tuesday.

Ding will face seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in the next round.

The 21-year-old Ding — who is the youngest player ever to win three ranking titles: the China Open and U.K. Championships in 2005 and the Northern Ireland Trophy in 2006 — led 5-1 but the less spectacular Fu recovered to trail 5-4 at the end of the opening session.

Fu, from Hong Kong, carried on that run of form against a player who has yet to make it past the quarterfinals in a ranking tournament this season to take a 6-5 lead.

Ding, though, regrouped and two breaks of 97 and 114 saw him resume control of the clash, before the world No. 9 took his third chance in the decider.

Ding looked to be in total control of the opening session after breaks of 113, 87 and 99 saw him soar four frames clear.

The final frame started with both players missing testing long reds, but Fu’s effort ended up over the pocket, gifting Ding his first chance.

The Chinese star made nine points before breaking down, and repeated the mistake soon after.

But a superb escape from a tricky snooker behind the green swung the match back in Ding’s favor, and he took full advantage with a 76 break taking him into the second round.

Ding’s emergence along with Fu has been credited with eliciting a huge interest in the sport in Asia, which was illustrated when a staggering 110 million people tuned into the China Open final in 2005 when Ding made his breakthrough by beating Hendry.

There are two other Chinese cuemen who have made the finals, Liu Chuang and Liang Wenbo.

British bookmakers William Hill face a 100,000 pounds (US$200,000) payout to You Senhuang from Beijing, who, 11 years ago staked 200 pounds at odds of 500/1 on a Chinese-born player becoming world champion before 2010.

Tuesday’s evening session also saw former world champion Shaun Murphy confirm his status as one of the favorites for this year’s title as he powered to a 7-2 lead over an outclassed Dave Harold.

Earlier Hendry insisted he can defy the doubters and win an eighth World Snooker title following a thrilling first-round win.

The Scot staged a superb comeback to beat Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen after winning the last three frames to seal a 10-9 victory.

“I've got to take confidence from a win like this, to be up against it all the way and come through in the end, and to win the last frame in style in one visit is very pleasing,” said Hendry, who made his Crucible debut in 1986, the year Allen was born.

“You only have to look at my record the last two or three years and even I would have written myself off. I know I’m not down as one of the favorites but I know I’m easily capable of winning it.”

Last year’s beaten finalist Mark Selby insisted the pressure of being second favorite was not to blame for his shock first-round exit.

Selby was well fancied to go one better after lifting the Wales Open and winning the Masters on his Wembley debut this season.

But the 24-year-old saw his 5-4 overnight lead quickly wiped out by Mark King and the left-hander went on to complete a shock 10-8 victory.

“It’s a little bit disappointing but I don’t think over the two days I’ve really performed,” admitted Selby. “Take nothing away from Mark, every time he got a chance he punished me.”(SD-Agencies)