On January 3, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker Champions League continued, and in the third group of matches, Zhao Xintong played well, sweeping the world's number one Selby 3-0, breaking out of the big cold. In another match at the same time, Xiao Guodong defeated world champion Stuart Bingham 3-2, and China's player won the opening goal in 2022.
Zhao Xintong is a big surprise this season, he won the British Championship and cashed in on his talent. Zhao Xintong's outstanding performance has been affirmed by many celebrities, and mark Selby, who is ranked first in the world, hopes to play a game with Zhao Xintong. As a result, the two met in the Champions League, Zhao Xintong originally withdrew, but Mark Williams, who was supposed to participate in the third group competition, also withdrew, and Zhao Xintong came off the bench.
This is the invitational version of the Champions League, with 7 players in each group competing for a place in the winner's group. The competition is divided into two stages, the first is the single round robin of the group, which determines the ranking, followed by the top four in the group for the elimination of the group, and the winner of the group stage advances to the winner group. In previous matches, Liang Wenbo and Graeme Dort had already taken the lead in qualifying for the winners' group.
The opening match of the third group was exactly Zhao Xintong against Selby. In the first set, Zhao Xintong won with a single shot of 63 points. In the second inning, Selby took the lead and scored a single 58, but he lost a difficult black ball when he was about to overtake the score. After that, Zhao Xintong seized the opportunity and won the second set with a 68-65 reversal. In the third set, Zhao Xintong scored a single 52 points to win the set 106-0, sweeping Selby 3-0.
Obviously, this result is a big cold, it can be said that Zhao Xintong continues his excellent feel, and Selby is still in a very average state this season.
In another match played at the same time, Xiao Guodong and world champion Stuart Bingham played five full sets, and Xiao Guodong fell behind 1-2 at one point. In the fourth set, Xiao Guodong scored a single 68 points to drag the game into the decider. In the final moments, Xiao Guodong seized the opportunity to win the decider 65-35, defeating Stuart Bingham 3-2 on aggregate.
China's Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong both won the first game of the new year, and it can be said that they are in quite good shape, laying a good foundation for the top four in the group. After all, Selby and Bingham are both powerful players, and beating players of this level will make Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong more confident. Zhao Xintong also wants to play in the Masters, hoping that he can find the best feel through the Champions League and achieve another good result in the Masters!