World Championship: Hossein Vafaei sets up Ronnie O'Sullivan showdown after fine display to beat Ding Junhui

Hossein Vafaei produced the first Crucible victory of his career with a 10-6 win over world No. 16 Ding Junhui to progress to the second round. Vafaei will play defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan next.

The pair have engaged in a verbal battle in the last year with Vafaei telling O'Sullivan to retire for being «disrespectful». Ad Vafaei claimed seven-time world champion O'Sullivan was «not good for the game» and questioned «what has he done for the sport?» World ChampionshipO'Sullivan told to 'always enjoy it' as White reflects on keys of snooker longevity4 HOURS AGO O'Sullivan appeared to be relishing the prospect of a showdown with Vafaei after his first-round win at the Crucible as he warned «don't rattle my cage». Against Ding, Vafaei began the session 5-4 down but he stylishly reeled off four frames in a row to take a commanding lead.

The Iranian got off to the perfect start with a break of 117 before following up with another ton to take a 6-5 lead. He made it three in a row thanks to a run of 68. However, when on for a 147 in the next frame he took on an “unwise” shot that Neal Foulds suggested could have represented an “insult” to Ding.

World Championship LIVE 'A lot can go wrong' — O'Sullivan on handling illness during World Championship World Championship: Scores, results, schedule Nevertheless, Vafaei continued his spectacular performance by going into an 8-5 lead at the interval with a half century. Ding left Vafaei needing three snookers after missing a red to the yellow on 77, but he quickly conceded and the Chinese player got his first frame of the day. But Vafaei continued to play some of his best snooker, producing a break of 89 after starting it with a fine plant into the middle pocket to move to