Ding Junhui battled through his opening match to keep his fans happy at the Honghe Industrial 2007 World Snooker China Open.

The 19-year-old snooker genius from the Jiangsu Province, sporting reddish highlights in his hair, beat Adrian Gunnell 5-3 to reach the last 32 in Beijing.

Though he compiled breaks of 82, 97 and 130 in taking a 3-1 lead, Ding struggled to close the match out after the interval and made several unforced errors as Telford¡¯s Gunnell got back to 4-3.

Chinese snooker prodigy Ding Junhui strikes during the 2007 World Snooker China Open in the first round game against Adrian Gunnell from England March 26 in Beijing. Ding beat Gunnell 5-3.[Xinhua]

Ding eventually sealed victory to set up a match with Barry Hawkins, but his millions of followers in China know he must improve if he is to repeat his heroics of 2005 when he beat Stephen Hendry in the final.

In qualifying for this event, Jimmy White saved his professional status for next season, and he continued his run with a 5-2 defeat of Zheng Peng.

The Whirlwind was due to face Stephen Lee next but the Trowbridge player'ss withdrawal means that White proceeds straight to the last 16 - the first time he has reached that stage of a ranking event since the 2005 Grand Prix.

From 2-1 down, the former UK and Masters champion won four consecutive frames with a top break of 61.

"I nicked the first frame on the colours, otherwise it could have been different," admitted the 44-year-old Londoner, who failed to win a knock-out match in the season's other six ranking events.

"At my age you can play well one day, then badly the next. I've got three days now to practise at the hotel and make sure I play well on Thursday. I still love this game and I'll keep playing as long as I enjoy it."

Liu Chuang, a 16-year-old from the Liaoning Province, set up a dream tie with his hero Ronnie O'Sullivan by edging out Andy Hicks 5-4.

Joe Jogia lost 5-1 to Yu Delu, the 19-year-old from the Shanxi Province compiled runs of 69 and 60.

Wins for five of the eight wild cards means that there are six Chinese players in the last 32