On the morning of January 30, Beijing time, two consecutive good news came from Berlin, Germany, and the 2022 German Masters, which is being held here, ended two semi-final competitions. First, Zhao Xintong beat Richie Wharton 6-3 and was the first to reach the final. A few hours later, Yan Also won 6-4 against Mark Allen, with the two Chinese players meeting in the Final of the German Masters. At the beginning of the new year, Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao joined hands to present a big gift to Chinese snooker fans, these two golfers are well-deservedly the best in China.
After 00, Yan Bingtao has reached the final of the ranking tournament for the fourth time. In Berlin, he defeated David Gilbert, now ranked world number one Mark Selby and Ryan Day to advance to the semifinals. Facing six-time ranking champion Mark Allen, Yan Bingtao swept away the haze of consecutive losses against opponents in the last three times, defeated Allen 6-4, and advanced to the final with his head held high. Zhao Xintong, who is 3 years older than Yan Bingtao, reached the final of the ranking tournament for the second time, but he is the fastest rising chinese golfer, the best one this season, and the world ranking of 9th is 7 places higher than Yan Bingtao. In this tournament, he has defeated players including Mark Williams, one of the "75 Three Masters", Tom Ford, and the tournament's top seed, Judd Trump, and advanced to the semifinals. In the semi-final with Wharton, Zhao Xintong first fell behind 1-3, but after returning from rest, he was full of firepower, winning 5 consecutive sets, reversing the opponent 6-3, and entering the final of the big ranking tournament for the second time.
Zhao Xintong said after the game, "It feels amazing to enter the final for the second time, and I will enjoy tomorrow's game." I want to play against Bingtao (Zhao Xintong's game ended before Yan Bingtao) because that is very important for China Snooker. I want to play against him in the final. Yan Bingtao said after winning the competition: "Zhao (Xintong) and I are very good friends, for so many years, we practice together and play mobile games together. We've been together. We will all enjoy tomorrow. ”
Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao are the only two world TOP16 players in the Chinese snooker army, the two are in front of various large-scale ranking competitions, and it is well deserved to get a better ranking than other domestic golfers, but breaking through many dangers and obstacles and the encirclement of the world's top masters, reaching the final together still surprises most fans, of course, it is also very exciting, this is also the first time chinese golfers meet in the final of the German Masters, and it is also the third time that Chinese golfers meet in the final of the large ranking competition. The first two occurred in 2013.
That year, Ding Junhui defeated Xiao Guodong and Fu Jiajun in the finals of the Shanghai Masters and international championships to win the championship. In addition, in 2011, Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun staged the "China Derby" in the final of the Masters (the Masters is not a ranking match). That is to say, when there were two Chinese golfers competing for supremacy in the finals of the previous ranking matches, one of them must be Ding Junhui. This time, Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao are both new and new forces. While remembering the merits of Ding Junhui's Chinese snooker leader, it also shows that China's snooker is about to have a new leader, and a new era of Chinese snooker is about to begin.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin