Chinese top snooker player Ding Junhui met hard resistence from Thepchaiya Un-Nooth of Thailand to see off the latter 5-3, while defending champion Neil Robertson experienced another nine-frame victory to make into last 16 in 2014 World Snooker China Open second-round in Beijing on Wednesday.

"I'm happy with the win, and very looking forward to the next match," Ding said at the press conference.

Ding will face John Higgins, who defeated Michael White 5-1 in an earlier match, in last 16.

"It will be a tough match," Ding talked about his encounter with Higgins.

Ding went into interval with a 3-1 lead, and got match point with a 94-49 win in frame six.

Thepchaiya began to fight back in the seventh frame, which saw Ding's break of 41. Thepchaiya forced Ding into a 12-point penalty and got one frame back with solid defense.

In frame eight, Ding led by 59-35, before he hit the yellow successfully to earn a comfortable lead.

World No. 1 Robertson edged past Mark Williams 5-4. "I'm very happy to get through. I know I'm not 100 percent healthy, but I'm still battling on," said Robertson.

After getting match point with 4-2, Robertson led by 63-0 in frame seven. However, Williams kept alive in frame seven and eight to drag match into the decisive last.

"I should have won the match before," admitted the defending champion.

Robertson will play against China's Yu Delu for a quarter-finals spot. Yu saw off James Wattana of Thailand in another match.

In other matches, Judd Trump lost to Peter Ebdon 5-4, Shaun Murphy swept Dechawat Poomjaeng 5-0, Marco Fu of Hong Kong was eliminated by Mark King 5-3, Tian Pengfei and Xiao Guodong was defeated 5-3 by Mike Dunn and Ricky Walden respectively.