In the early morning of January 10, Beijing time, in the first round of the 2022 Snooker Masters in London, the defending champion, Chinese player Yan Bingtao, won first and then lost in the good situation of 3-1 leading, and was reversed by one of the "75 three masters" veteran Mark Williams 6-4, regrettably failing to advance to the quarterfinals. There are two Chinese players participating in the Masters, and Zhao Xintong will appear on the evening of January 10, Beijing time, against another "75 Three Masters" player, John Higgins.
Born in 2000, Yan Bingtao is the second player in China to win the snooker Masters championship after Ding Junhui, currently ranked 15th in the world, and he is also the defending champion of this tournament. In the previous five encounters with "Golden Left Hand" Mark Williams, Yan Bingtao was slightly inferior in 2 wins and 3 losses, but never won in the ranking match. Although Mark Williams is 25 years older than Yan Bingtao, but the physical and energy disadvantages can be compensated by a wealth of competition experience, not to mention that the first round of the Masters is only to adopt a 11-game and 6-win format, which is not a big problem for Williams, and he was once called "the most accurate person in the world" in the snooker industry, before the game, many media and industry people are still very optimistic that Williams can win, because Yan Bingtao's recent state is not very good.
In fact, Yan Bingtao still had a chance to pass this game, he played a good start, and once took a 3-1 lead. But in the following game, Williams scored the lucky ball at least three times, which made Yan Bingtao helpless, and the "Uncle Ma" who was jokingly called "Ma Guilian" by Chinese fans (pronounced in English) won the match point after winning 4 consecutive games, and after Yan Bingtao pulled back a set, Williams played a single 85 point in the 10th set, and finally won the game 6-4 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Williams' opponent in the next round is the winner of the match between Chinese player Zhao Xintong and John Higgins.
Although Yan Bingtao is only a round of travel, winning or losing is a common thing for soldiers, and losing to the world's top celebrities is not embarrassing. For the young him, there is no need to be discouraged, as long as he can maintain the top 16 ranking, there will be many opportunities to participate in the top ranking competition.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin