The following season, Ding was consistent, reaching the last 16 of all-but-one ranking event. However, he failed to reach a single semi-final, causing him to drop to number 13 in the world rankings. At the 2008 World Snooker Championship, Ding reached the second round for the first time, beating Marco Fu 10–9 before losing 13–7 to Stephen Hendry. During the 2007 Premier League Snooker, Ding recorded 495 unanswered points (most points without reply) against Stephen Hendry, setting a record for the most unanswered points in any professional snooker tournament. The record was surpassed in 2014 when Ronnie O'Sullivan recorded 556 unanswered points against Ricky Walden.