Ding Junhui reached his first World Championship final in record-setting style as he saw off Alan McManus at the Crucible, yesterday.

China’s snooker flag-bearer fired his seventh century of the semi-final, a classy 123, and completed a 17-11 victory over Scottish veteran McManus.

Before Ding’s masterclass, the record in Sheffield stood at six centuries in a match, achieved by Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan, but he has rewritten that corner of the history books and also becomes Asia’s first World Championship finalist, a landmark moment for the sport.

His earlier tons in the match were 100, 131, 100, 128, 138 and 113, and in a startling run of scoring he also fired breaks of 84, 62, 90, 97, 80 and 60.

Ding’s time has finally come. Snooker’s biggest match beckons.

The 29-year-old has been tipped to dominate snooker since his teenage years.

He won the UK Championship at the age of 18 and in 2013/14 matched Stephen Hendry’s record of five ranking titles in a season, becoming world number one in December 2014.

Other semi-final (latest): Selby vs Fu 15-15 (best-of-33).