Ding Junhui kept up his bid to become the first player in 23 years to win three ranking events in a row with a 6-1 thrashing of Matthew Stevens at the International Championship.

Ding became the first player to win back-to-back ranking events in the same season with his recent success in Shanghai Masters and India Open and his hot streak continued at this ￡625,000 ranking event in Chengdu.

Breaks of 53, 77, 68 and 110 helped the Chinese ace to a comfortable win over Stevens.

"Neither of us played well in the first couple of frames and we both struggled with cueball control," said Ding. "I adjusted to the table better so I'm pleased with the result."

Ding will face Peter Ebdon for a place in the last four after the Englishman won a narrow encounter with world number one Neil Robertson.

Another home hero Liang Wenbo built on yesterday's win over Ronnie O'Sullivan with a 6-1 rout of Mark Davis.

In other third-round matches, Hong Kong's Marco Fu ended the run of local wild-card Zhao Xintong with a 6-2 win, while Graeme Dott beat Kurt Maflin 6-5 in another exciting encounter.

Joe Perry also went through to the last eight after beating Mark Allen 6-4.