SHEFFIELD - World No 9 Ding Junhui of China took a controlling lead 7-2 over Scotland's Alan McManus in their first round match at the World Snooker Championship here on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Chinese star, who paid tribute to the victims of the earthquake in Southwest China's Sichuan province by wearing a black armband, trailed the veteran Scot 1-0 and 2-1 but fought back with a break of 131 and a 67 to make it 2-2.

Ding, whose best feat came in the 2011 worlds when he made the semifinals, gave no chance to McManus to win six frames in a row.

He will need more winning frames when the match resumes on Wednesday morning.

"He (McManus) played very well at the beginning," Ding said. "But I found that he could not play consistently and missed too many chances. So I decided to play more offensively."

"I played smartly today, but far from perfectly," Ding said. "I hope to win the champion for sure."

In the day's another match, Marco Fu of Hong Kong, China, took a lead of 6-3 over Matthew Stevens.