This Sept 11, 2018, photo shows China's Ding Junhui playing a shots against Northern Ireland's Mark Allen during their second-round match in the 2018 Shanghai Masters snooker tournament in Shanghai. (PHOTO / AFP)

LONDON - Former world No 1 Ding Junhui of China failed to reach the last 16 at the World Snooker Championship as he lost to Kyren Wilson 10-8 in the opening round on Thursday.

Ding Junhui, the most prolific Chinese snooker player with 14 ranking titles, suffered a setback this season as his world ranking has slipped to 29

Ding, the most prolific Chinese snooker player with 14 ranking titles, suffered a setback this season as his world ranking has slipped to 29.

The 35-year-old ace managed to grab a berth in the final stages at the World Championship through qualification and took a 3-0 lead against Wilson while facing the world No 5 in the first round.

Wilson fought back hard to level with Ding from 3-3 to 8-8, then the 30-year-old took the following two frames to set up a clash with Stuart Bingham.

ALSO READ: China's Yan reaches last 16 at World Snooker Championship

"It was awesome. I loved every minute of it," Wilson was quoted by the World Snooker Tour website. "When you're both scoring well and feeding off each other, it's going to produce good snooker. I felt like it was fast, attacking, flowing - a great match."

Ding, whose best result at the World Championship was runner-up in 2016, said he was not disappointed. "I'm going to stick with my family; it's easy to become a robot, doing the same things all the time. I've now got more time to be myself."

READ MORE: China's Zhao wins maiden title at Snooker UK Championship

Ding's compatriots Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao both won the first-round matches in the year-ending tournament.

The 22-year-old Yan Bingtao will face defending champion Mark Selby in the second round while the 25-year-old Zhao is going to meet Stephen Maguire next.