Mark Selby will take on home hope Ding Junhui this afternoon for a place in the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing.

The world No.7 showed his battling qualities in his first-round match against Rod Lawler yesterday to notch a 5-2 win, coming back from 50 points down in three frames.

The 'Jester from Leicester' now faces Ding in what will be a packed Beijing Students University Stadium.

Despite his popularity in China, Selby will expect the crowd to be nothing less than partisan in favour of their countryman, although he is relishing the challenge.

"It will be a tough game against Ding. I've never played him in China before and I'm looking forward to it," he said.

"I haven't played competitively for two months and, with the World Championships starting in a couple of weeks, the harder the test will be good for my preparation.

"Hopefully I can go on a good run in this tournament."

Against world No.61 Lawler, Selby shared the opening four frames to go into the break locked at 2-2, but then won three on the spin to close out the victory.

The Masters champion, who fired in breaks of 57, 79 and 67, said: "It was a scrappy game. I won three frames from 50 behind, which shows good character.

"I felt good after the interval, but Rod put me under pressure and played some good stuff."

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the biggest casualty in the opening round, the world No.1 crashing to a 5-3 defeat against little-known Tian Pengfei, from China.

Shaun Murphy also lost, going down 5-2 to Derby veteran Nigel Bond.