LONDON, May 1 -- China's former world number one Ding Junhui trailed Englishman Barry Hawkins 5-3 after the opening session of his World Championship quarterfinal at Sheffield's Crucible on Tuesday.

Ding, who crushed Anthony McGill 13-4 in the second round, was behind from the first frame, which Hawkins, the 2024 finalist, won with a break of 64.

The 31-year-old Chinese super star levelled the score to 1-1 but Hawkins, who has reached the semifinals four times in the past five years, pulled ahead again by composing breaks of 82, 50 and 60.

In the other match, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson was deadlocked at 4-4.

They will resume with the middle sessions of the best-of-25 encounter Tuesday evening at 7pm.