Ding Junhui fired four centuries to take a commanding 6-2 lead over Alan McManus in the first session of their World Championship semi-final.
The Chinese player had to qualify for the Crucible this year after slipping out of the world's top 16 but has been unstoppable up to this point.
He dropped just seven frames in three best-of-19 qualifying matches and disposed of Martin Gould and Judd Trump in the first two rounds before winning his quarter-final against Mark Williams 13-3 with a session to spare.
SESSION | Superb from Ding - 4 tons in the opening session to lead McManus 6-2 in the semi finals!#ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/bMw36NB2Np
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker1) April 28, 2016
He began this match in the same blistering form, with breaks of 100, 84 and 131 taking him into a 3-0 lead.
He added the fourth and made another 100 break to go 5-0 up before McManus, in the last four for the first time since 1993, finally got on the board in frame six.
A precise long red helped the veteran Scot take the next as well but Ding rattled in a 128 in the last frame of the session for a 6-2 advantage.
