China’s Ding Junhui beat reigning world snooker champion John Higgins 4-3 on Wednesday in the second round of the Welsh Open.

Higgins was on the verge of defeating a second Chinese player in as many matches, following a 4-1 win over Liang Wenbo on Monday, when he led Ding 3-2.

But in an incident-packed sixth frame, Ding make a break of 61 before a missed black let Higgins in.

The Scot had made a break of 58 when he then missed a pink off the rest and that allowed Ding the chance to level at 3-3 before the twice former UK champion took the decider with a contribution of 86.

“I felt under pressure because John’s safety is very good and he made it difficult for me,” Ding told worldsnooker.com. “I made a good break in the last frame and to beat him gives me a lot of confidence.”

Higgins said: “He got off to a good start and, after that, I was struggling.

“I scrapped my way back into it and had a chance to win so it’s really disappointing.

“You only get out of the game what you put into it, so I really need to put the work in over the next couple of months to have a chance at the World Championship.”

Former world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was in fine form when he booked his place in the last 16 with a 4-1 win over Hong Kong’s Marco Fu.

In other matches, Northern Irish cueman Mark Allen set up a last-16 clash with seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry after he hammered former world champion Ken Doherty 4-0.

The home crowd were cheered up as Wales’ Matthew Stevens posted a new tournament-high break of 141 in a 4-3 win over England’s Barry Hawkins.

Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy enjoyed a 4-0 whitewash of snooker great Steve Davis.