The 2022 Snooker Masters continued the first round of competition, the Chinese team suffered a "total annihilation", following the defending champion Yan Bingtao lost 4:6 to world champion Mark Williams on the first day of the competition, The new Keying Championship champion and world ninth-ranked Zhao Xintong performed poorly in the match against four-time World Champion Higgins, and finally lost to Higgins 2:6, missing the quarterfinals of the Masters. Just halfway through the first round of the competition schedule, the Chinese players were tragically "wiped out", and Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong, who participated in the Masters, were both out of the first round and ended their Masters journeys. In another matchday, world number seven world champion Sean Murphy lost in a match against world number ten Hawkins, who lost five innings in a 2-1 lead, losing 2:6 to Hawkins on aggregate and suffering a round trip to the Masters, the former Masters champion has underperformed in recent years, losing three times to Hawkins in the last five years.
The match between China's Zhao Xintong and "Wizard" Higgins has attracted everyone's attention, and on the first day of the game, the defending champion Yan Bingtao was defeated by Mark Williams and stopped in the first round of the Masters, so Chinese fans pinned their hopes on Zhao Xintong. Zhao Xintong has been in good shape recently, not long ago won the Championship at the British Championship, the world ranking also came to the ninth place in the world, the highest ranking player in China, a few days ago Zhao Xintong was in a state of flux in the third group of the Snooker Champions League, he won eight consecutive games to win the championship, and got the qualification to participate in the winning group, such a strong performance makes Chinese fans have more expectations for his prospects in the Masters. Higgins has been in great shape this season, he has played in the Northern Ireland Open, the English Open, the Championship and the Scottish Open finals, and his performance is quite outstanding, and Higgins is one of the favorites to win the championship this Time Masters. Zhao Xintong and Higgins game was thought to be a fierce battle, did not expect that the end is a one-sided situation, the first game Higgins used Zhao Xintong's mistake to blast out a single shot to break the hundred after the next city, the second game Zhao Xintong used the opponent's mistake to play a single shot to break the hundred after the color, the two sides of the first two sets into a 1:1 draw.
In the third set of the game Zhao Xintong's state suddenly dropped, Higgins steadily and steadily kept a clean sheet Zhao Xintong won, the big score of 2:1 again overtaken, the fourth game between the two sides played very fiercely, the score has not been pulled apart, but unfortunately Zhao Xintong missed the opportunity many times, Higgins won 59:19 after many starts, the big score 3:1 lead. After returning from the half-time break, Zhao Xintong's defense was still full of holes, in the fifth game, Zhao Xintong took the lead but did not seize the opportunity, Higgins single shot out 104 points and then won another set, the big score was 4:1 lead, the sixth game, Zhao Xintong played very patiently, he repeatedly started to attack and struggled to pull back a set, chasing the score to 2:4. In the seventh game, Zhao Xintong failed to continue the good momentum of chasing points, Higgins won another round and got the match point after a steady and steady fight, and in the eighth game Higgins did not give Zhao Xintong any more chances, he ended the battle after two attacks, and defeated Zhao Xintong with a total score of 6:2, strongly advancing to the quarterfinals of the Masters.
World champion Sean Murphy faced "Mr. Stability" Hawkins, the two ranked relatively close, the strength is almost the same, "Grand Slam" winner Sean Murphy's state of affairs this season is very up and down, after winning the world championship runner-up, Sean Murphy's overall performance is not good, many times in the game encountered "a round trip". Hawkins took the lead in the first set, he shot 65 points in a single shot and then took the lead in the next city, in the second set Murphy played well, he singled out 69 points and reversed Hawkins and pulled back a set, in the third game Sean Murphy continued to work hard, he won another set after multiple starts 2:1. However, the ensuing game was a "nightmare" for Murphy, in the fourth game Murphy offensive error, Hawkins single shot 67 points after equalizing, the fifth game, Hawkins single shot 60 points after a narrow victory of 64:54, the big score 3:2 to surpass Murphy, the sixth game Hawkins offensive firepower did not decrease, he single shot 104 points and then continued to expand the score, the seventh game, Murphy is still in poor shape, Hawkins hit 69 points after the clean sheet opponent won the match point 5:2, In the eighth inning, although Hawkins did not score a single high score, he still won 70:14, and defeated The first world champion of the "post-80s" Sean Murphy 6:2 on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals of the Masters. Two matchdays later, the Masters quarterfinals have produced four seats: Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, The Witch higgins and Hawkins.