9-0, it's hard to believe it was a score that came up in the final of the Snooker Grand Ranking Tournament, so much so that the audience who bought tickets to the second stage of the tournament almost equally watched only one awards ceremony. The record was set by Chinese player Zhao Xintong, born in 1997, and of course, Yan Bingtao, a supporting actor and another Chinese player born in 2000. The "childlike" battle ended in the early morning of January 31, Beijing time, on the occasion of the final of the 2022 German Masters in Berlin. Zhao Xintong did not save a little face for the "master" Yan Bingtao, swept his friends, won the ranking championship after 56 days, and stabilized his position as the highest ranking player in the world, and gained the upper hand in the first-man battle with Yan Bingtao in the new generation of Chinese snooker.
The two Chinese players met in the final of the international large-scale ranking tournament, and only appeared twice before, both with Ding Junhui participating and Ding Junhui winning the championship, and there was also one such scene in the Masters, and it was Ding Junhui who won the game. But this time, there is no figure of the predecessor Ding Junhui, replaced by the two most popular, potential and powerful players in the Chinese snooker army: Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao. Both have won ranking titles and are heavyweight. Although Yan Bingtao is young, he won the Riga Masters three years ago, and he is also the youngest and first Masters champion born in the new century, nicknamed "Master Yan". Zhao Xintong, known as "Zhao Gongzi", is elegant and handsome, the first ranking champion is the British Championship, which is also one of the three major competitions of snooker, which is the title he won less than two months ago, Zhao Xintong is also currently the highest ranking in the world among Chinese players, the 9th (after this German Masters has risen to 8th).
The two golfers play in very different styles. Zhao Xintong has been praised by his predecessor and snooker star Jimmy White as "quite O'Sullivan's style", while Yan Bingtao has been called the new "Chinese snooker Demon King" by golfers, comparing his style of play with Selby. Before the game, some people predicted that the two men would play each other, and although Zhao Xintong played accurately and quickly, he would be suppressed by Yan Bingtao's playing style and optimistic that Yan Bingtao would win the championship. However, the progress and result of the game were completely beyond everyone's imagination, and Zhao Xintong destroyed the successive victories of the battle, and started 8-0 in the first stage, without the slightest regard for the love of his friends. So that after the start of the second stage of the game, it was like going through the motions, only one round was played, Yan Bingtao still had no intention of fighting, and soon lost, Zhao Xintong won his second ranking championship in the most relaxed and disparity way.
Yan Bingtao's state in the game is really not good, in the words of fan netizens, it is "unable to catch Zhao Xintong's ball", just like saying that the role of cross-talk is not good for the words of the comic actor, and the performance of the two sides is not in a grade. In fact, it is not that Zhao Xintong does not give face, and the observant and careful audience commented: They are all Chinese golfers and friends, Zhao Xintong did not play to the death, there were also times to relax, but if you don't clear the stage, you will be seen by others.
The match recorded several times. Zhao Xintong won the title twice this season only 56 days apart, becoming the player who won the ranking championship in the shortest time after winning the first championship in history; 9-0, it was the second time in the ranking finals after 2 years, on January 27, 2020, the snooker European Masters final, Chinese player Zhou Yuelong was swept 0-9 by the "Melbourne machine" Neil Robertson; this is the first time in the history of snooker ranking matches to stage a showdown between the post-90s and post-00s; this final is also the history of snooker rankings, This is the first time to stage the final Chinese derby between the post-90s and the post-00s; this is the second time that the Chinese derby has been staged in the snooker stage after 9 years, and the final of the Shanghai Masters and the final of the International Championship has been staged twice in 2013; this final derby is the first time there is no Ding Junhui; this championship is Zhao Xintong's second ranking championship, and it is also the second personal championship of this season, and the second championship of the Chinese snooker army this season.
After the game, the two Chinese balls shook hands and hugged, Yan Bingtao said, "Today he played very well. I felt a little bit stressed and missed a lot of goals. I enjoyed being here and playing with a very nice friend. I would like to thank everyone who came here today and congratulate Zhao (Heart Boy). We are like brothers and I wish him all the best. Zhao Xintong said in his acceptance speech: "Tonight is a surprise for me, I can't believe that the score is so one-sided. Bing Tao is a good player and we know each other very well. I didn't believe I could win 9-0, but I just did. It's a great venue with lots of nice people here. Berlin is a great city and I really like it. When I went into the intermission with a 4-0 lead, I walked out and chatted with (Yan) Bingtao. I could see that he was under pressure. I said to him, you don't have to do that, you can go and play like it's a show. We were very friendly and I hope it's a show for the fans. Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year, and tonight we will go back to the UK. Because of the Chinese New Year, this event is very different for us, and tomorrow we may have a few drinks. ”
The result of this match was really unexpected, no fan or pundit could guess such a score before the game, but this is definitely not a real strength comparison between the two. Both are the best of China's new generation of snooker players, the future of each other will certainly have a win or lose, together leading the Chinese snooker players on the international competitive stage for a long time, which is a fortunate thing for the Chinese snooker sport, I hope they and other players together, for China Snooker to bring more championships.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin
Editor/Zhou Xueshuai