Ding Junhui of China competes during the second half of the first round match against Mark Davis of England at the 2015 World Snooker Championship in the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England on April 21, 2015. Ding won 10-7. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
Third seed Ding Junhui missed a costly maximum break but still defeated Englishman Mark Davis 10-7 to enter the second round of the snooker world championship at Sheffield on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old, who lost the opening four frames, managed to make it 3-4 after Monday's first session. He dropped the first one of the second session to give Davis a 5-3 lead.
Ding, who rose to world No. 1 temporarily earlier in the year, missed out on a maximum 147 break in bizarre circumstances in the ninth frame.
He potted 12 reds and 12 blacks, only to seemingly lose concentration and screw back for the blue when potting the 13th red.
But he recovered from the mistake and won five of the next six frames and sealed the match with a break of 85 in frame 17.
The Chinese star will next face four-time world champion John Higgins in the second round.
