China's top snooker player Ding Junhui began his run at the China Open here in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon, taking on Barry Hawkins. Ding, who won the China Open title in 2005 and was the runner up in 2010 was looking to start another successful event with a victory in the round of 32.
Ding came into this match, fresh off a win in the finals of the Players Tour Championship just over a week ago that brought him to eighth in the world. However, any momentum Ding had quickly evaporated as Hawkins, the world number 14 jumped out to a dominant 4-0 lead in the race to 5.
Ding would do his best to battle back, as the Chinese put up a great fight to make it 4-3. But it would be too little, too late as Hawkins would take advantage of a Ding miss in the 8th and put him away 5-3. Hawkins now gets world number 7 Stephen Maguire in the round of 16.