Victorious Ding pays respect to Chinese earthquake victims

Instead Ding, who lives in Sheffield and trains out of the World Snooker Academy at the city's English Institute of Sport, paid his respects to the victims of an earthquake which killed over 2,000 in his homeland.

The earthquake destroyed the town of Yushu last Wednesday and yesterday was a national day of mourning in China.

So Ding requested the brash entrance music – part of the Barry Hearn treatment to modernise the game – be scrapped and MC Rob Walker toned down his pre-match presentations.

Leading 8-1 against Stuart Pettman, the 23-year-old UK champion wasted little time in finishing off his first-round match.

Ding opened with an impressive 88 break and, when Preston's Pettman missed a simple pink, the China star cleared to clinch a 10-1 victory.

"Today is the national day of mourning back home," he said. "It happened in a different part of the country to my friends and family, but a lot of people died, and I was very sad watching all the pictures on the internet.

"It was very bad news, and I asked not to have any music for my entrance. I am grateful to World Snooker and the other players for respecting that."

Ding, who donated his weight in sponsors Pukka Pies – all 276 of them – to a homeless charity in Sheffield when he lifted the UK crown in December, has been tipped by snooker's elite as a future world champion.

He has struggled to make his mark at his adopted home-town venue, failing to get beyond the second round, but after a successful season which also saw him finish runner-up at the China Open, Ding hopes he can finally benefit from some 'home comforts.'

"People say I have a great chance this year, but I'm not feeling any extra pressure – not today, anyway," he said. "I have had a good season, that's enough, and I feel great.

"It wasn't easy at first coming to play here, but it feels easier now. I practise in Sheffield, live here, and play this tournament here."

Ding will next play on Sunday against the winner of the match between Shaun Murphy, the former Rotherham-based 2005 world champion, and Gerard Greene.

World No 6 Ryan Day, who has reached the quarter-finals on his previous two Crucible visits, lost at the first hurdle, beaten 10-8 by qualifier Mark Davis.

Tonight, world champion John Higgins will take on Crucible legend Steve Davis.

Six-time champion Davis, 52, clinched his place with a 10-9 first-round win over Mark King. "In terms of performances and considering I haven't had much match play, that was like climbing a mountain for me," said Davis.

"Other than that I probably only produced one other decent performace this season and that was against Stephen Hendry in the UK when I got back to 6-6 before he played very well to win.

"I don't look at the draw but to play John Higgins as world champion will just be fantastic. It will be tough against him, he's a hard player."