On January 29, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker German Masters ended the third day of the main competition, and the all-day competition once again broke out three major unpopularities. The first is that Yan Bingtao won three consecutive sets after falling behind 2-4 to eliminate Selby 5-4 and advance to the quarterfinals. This was followed by Zhao Xintong's 5-1 victory over Trump to advance to the final four. The other was Ritchie Wharton's 5-1 elimination of Karen Wilson. After these three games, all the top five players in the world ranking were out, which was a big surprise.
In this competition, the upset became the main theme, and world champions Mark Williams and Neil Robertson suffered a round trip, and a number of seeded players were out early. Entering the third matchday, there were many more games that broke out. In the quarter-finals, Selby once led Yan Bingtao 4-2, but he then lost three consecutive sets, went out 4-5, missed the quarterfinals, and also missed the qualification for the Players Championship.
Then it was the quarter-finals, Zhao Xintong completely suppressed Trump in the strong dialogue, the whole game, Zhao Xintong played a six-shot 50+, and Trump did not have a single shot more than 50 points, Zhao Xintong won 5-1 trump Trump, such a score is really surprising. On the one hand, Zhao Xintong's state is really good, on the other hand, Trump's performance is too poor.
The third biggest underdog was Rich Wharton's 5-1 elimination of Karen Wilson, this time, Richie Walton regained his former peak form, eliminating Neil Robertson and Luka Brechel, and in the quarter-finals against world number five Karen Wilson, Rich Walton shot a five-shot 60+ to easily beat the opponent 5-1 and advance to the final four.
At this point, all the top five players in the world ranking are out, O'Sullivan is out of the qualifiers, Neil Robertson, Selby, Trump, Karen Wilson have lost, and the final players in the final four are Zhao Xintong, Rich Wharton, Mark Allen and Yan Bingtao. Obviously, this is a good opportunity for Chinese players to win the ranking championship again, and everyone is looking forward to Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao meeting in the final, which is a rare opportunity.
After eliminating Mark Williams in the first round, Zhao Xintong said that he would strive to win a second ranking championship this season, and now, he has defeated the powerful Trump and reached the final four, which is indeed a sword-pointing champion posture. After winning the British Championship, Zhao Xintong's self-confidence was further improved, that is, the attitude of enjoying the game, he fully exerted his talents, if he can improve his defensive ability, he is expected to become the top master of this stage!