In the early morning of January 27, Beijing time, in the first round of the 2022 German Masters in Berlin, Chinese player Zhao Xintong defeated 47-year-old veteran Mark Williams 5-3 to win the strong dialogue between "most accurate" and "most accurate", winning the opening red and advancing to the round of 16.
The German Masters is the 9th ranked race of the 2021/22 World Snooker Tour and the 5th of the eight races in the "Europe Series". The player who has accumulated the most prize money in the series will win an additional £150,000 after the end of the last tournament, the Gibraltar Open.
A total of 32 players participated in the first round of the main round. In the previously concluded qualifying rounds, many famous players, including Ding Junhui, O'Sullivan, Higgins, Bingham, etc., were unexpectedly defeated and failed to qualify for the main tournament. In terms of Chinese players, there were originally 8 people who entered the main competition, but Gao Yang withdrew before leaving, and Liang Wenbo tested positive for the new crown virus and could not participate in the battle, and only 6 Chinese players competed.
The so-called "most accurate" vs. "most accurate" in the first round of focus battles comes from the snooker nicknames of Williams and Zhao Xintong. "Golden Left Hand" Mark Williams has been riding the snooker altar for nearly 30 years and is known as the "most accurate man". Zhao Xintong, a 22-year-old Chinese teenager who is 22 years younger, has the intention of being a latecomer, and is also known for his ability to hit difficult balls into the bag, which has earned him the reputation of "the most accurate young man" in Snooker. In this game, the two sides also met in a narrow way, but "fist is afraid of less strong", or the young Zhao Xintong took the initiative, with "no most accurate only more accurate" batting, won this accurate dialogue.
In the first four innings, Zhao Xintong has encountered seven key far-court offensive opportunities, he has seized all of them, each goal must be scored, many times forced to get started and then get the initiative, half-time to take a 3-1 lead. After returning to the table, the situation has changed, and Williams, who has eased the gods, chased the big score to 3-3 draw, but Zhao Xintong's hands were not soft and did not jump, and he played a single shot of 89 points and 70 points in succession, winning two consecutive sets, and finally eliminated the old seniors 5-3 and advanced to the second round with his head held high. At this point, the figure of "75 Three Masters" has all disappeared in this German Masters.
On the first day of the German Masters, another Chinese team, Zhou Yuelong, also qualified, beating McGill 5-2. Anda Zhang was out after losing 3-5 to Belgian star Brechel.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Liu Ailin