In the early morning of December 14, the snooker World Grand Prix began, and The new Keying Championship champion Zhao Xintong appeared to compete with Gould for the top 16 spot.
The World Grand Prix only invited the single-season TOP32 to participate, and the Chinese Legion set a new low in the number of participants this season, and only 3 people qualified. Zhao Xintong ranked no. 1 in a single season with the £200,000 he won the British Championship, Yan Bingtao, who reached the top 4 of the Northern Ireland Tournament and the top 8 of the English Open this season, and Cao Yupeng, who entered the top 8 of the Champions League after his comeback, also got the ticket. On the first day, Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao both appeared, playing against Gould and Mark King respectively.
Zhao Xintong as the first to unlock the British Championship champion and the three major championships after the 90s, the latest world ranking jumped to the 9th to become a new brother in China, his strength lies in accuracy and impact, in the face of fierce enemies dare to fight, O'Sullivan has repeatedly praised his talent, optimistic that he will become the first Chinese person to win the world championship in the future. Gould is a famous nerve knife in snooker, who won the German Masters championship and reached the final of the European Masters last year, with many strokes of god in attack and defense, the disadvantage is that the performance is unstable, and there is only 1 ranking champion in the debut for many years.
The two sides competed in the first set, Zhao Xintong always suppressed the opponent after the start, and led 41-25 after Qinghong. Gould tried to overtake the score in the clear lottery stage, but was fined for a low-level mistake in hitting the green ball. Zhao Xintong seized the opportunity to lead 50-25, Gould did not want to show weakness to score the coffee ball, but Zhao Xintong then scored a blue ball 55-29 to lock in the victory, and the glasses man had gone to concede defeat. Zhao Xintong came out on top in the 4-win match in 7 innings and fired the first shot of the round of 16, cheers.
![Ding Junhui lost five consecutive defeats to the same fierce opponent and temporarily ranked fourth in the group, and O'Sullivan was on the verge of being out of the game with 1 win and 3 losses[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)