In the early morning of December 14, Beijing time, the World Snooker Tour Grand Prix officially began, in the first day of the opener, the number one seed Zhao Xintong played against England veteran "Glasses Man" Gould, the result of which he lost three consecutive sets in the case of a 2-1 lead, and finally was reversed 2-4, regretting a round trip. Yan Bingtao scored a shot against Mark King, and finally won 4-1 to advance to the round of 16. In the next round, Yan Bingtao will play against Gould, who eliminated Zhao Xintong, to compete for a place in the top 8.
The entry threshold of the Grand Prix is relatively high compared to other ranking competitions, and it must be the top 32 players in a single season to be eligible to participate, and Zhao Xintong directly sat in the first place in a single season with the 200,000 pounds of gold money won by the British Championship, so he played as the top seed in this competition. The opponent Gould only ranked 32nd in a single season, so this can be regarded as a duel between the "main and vice squad leaders". Before the Grand Prix, Zhao Xintong and Gould had played twice, the earliest of which dates back to the 2013 Shanghai Masters, when the 16-year-old Zhao Xintong played as a blank card and lost to Gould 4-5. The other encounter was at the 2017 English Open, where Zhao Xintong won 4-1.
This time to meet again, Zhao Xintong played against the aura of the British Championship New Branch Champion, and received a lot of attention, so in this state of mind, whether it is Zhao Xintong or Gould, the mentality and feel will be affected to a certain extent. In the first set of the game, Zhao Xintong played several times, won 55-29, and achieved a starting red lead, and in the second set, Gould completed the super point 77-34 and equalized. In the third set, Zhao Xintong used his offensive strengths to play a hundred, single-shot 101 points and clean sheets, taking a 2-1 lead. But after three sets, Zhao Xintong in the attack after the dud, there was a leakage of opportunities, Gould played a single shot 75 points, a single shot 52 points, a single shot 79 points, and finally a wave of three consecutive wins, directly completed the reversal, the big score 4-2 "upset" eliminated Zhao Xintong.
Another matchup in the same period was between Yan Bingtao and Mark King, who had only one previous record of meeting each other, at the 2017 Northern Ireland Open, when Mark King, who was playing against the defending champion, was defeated 4-1 by Yan Bingtao in the third round, ending his road to defend his title. This time again, Yan Bingtao did not give the opponent too many opportunities, although the game process is more fragmented, but in the opportunity ball to grasp the ability, or Yan Bingtao is better, in addition, Yan Bingtao also played a hundred in the fourth set, a single shot 111 points cleared the table, and finally won the big score 4-1 again to advance. Originally, it was expected to stage a good meeting between Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao, but only Yan Bingtao dueled against Gould and impacted the next round.
In addition, there is a Chinese player in the Grand Prix, and Cao Yupeng's first round against his old rival Mark Allen will be held in the early morning of tomorrow. Ding Junhui, a brother who has attracted the attention of Chinese fans, ranked 80th in a single season because of his dismal performance, and did not qualify for the competition.