Hawkins: Reaching the Masters final means a lot to me, and I can draw some confidence from that.
On February 8, local time, the 2022 Snooker Players Championship entered the second matchday at Wolverhampton, England, and Barry Hawkins, who ranked 16th in a single season, defeated the top seed of the tournament, Zhao Xintong, 6-3 with an outstanding performance to advance to the quarterfinals.
Hawkins did not qualify for the German Masters two weeks ago, which also means that he is on the verge of the top 16 in a single season, and he will have to wait for the results of other players to determine whether he can play this week. 17th-placed Mark Selby was out early and Hawkins was added to the Players' Championship squad with a single-season bonus margin of £1,500.
Hawkins last won the ranking tournament title was the 2017 World Grand Prix, and the three-time ranking champion is in good shape this season, reaching the final four for the first time in the British Championship, when he lost to Zhao Xintong and missed the final. In last month's Masters, Hawkins, who played as the home of London's players, won three consecutive games to advance to the final, but lost to Robertson as runners-up.
Zhao Xintong, 24, is the winner of this season's British Championship and German Masters, just two weeks ago in the final in Berlin to win his second ranking title of the season with a 9-0 victory over compatriot Yan Bingtao. In Tuesday's first round, Hawkins took the lead with a single shot of 63 and 91 points, and Zhao Xintong pulled back a set before Hawkins scored 91 points to end the first half with a 3-1 lead.
After 15 minutes of intermission, Zhao Xintong scored 90 and 62 points and chased after 3-4, and hawkins, the former champion of the Championships, once again showed a good offensive feel in the 8th and 9th innings, and the single shot 71 and 50 points locked the final score at 6-3.
"I know this game is going to be really, really hard to play. He (Zhao Xintong) is a player in good shape and full of confidence. He beat me overwhelmingly in the semi-finals of the British Championship, so it was good to be able to have that kind of performance against him. Hawkins, 42, said.
"He (Zhao Xintong) is a top player now and we've known him for a while, but now he's proven himself capable. He'll be at the top of the sport for a long time, and he'll be committed to it now. He's very talented and makes the game look effortless. ”
"I've been in good shape for the last two seasons and reaching the Masters final means a lot to me and I can draw some confidence from that. If I can always play well and allow myself to achieve this, I hope that one day the door will open for me. Snooker is hard to play, and it's so difficult to win a title in any one of the competitions. ”
Hawkins will face Yan Bingtao in the quarter-finals, who withstood David Gilbert's counter-attack in another match at the same time to win their first round 6-4. Yan Bingtao once led 5-1 in this game, and although Gilbert chased three consecutive sets, Yan Bingtao still locked up the quarterfinals with a single-shot performance of 100, 80, 66, 135, 123 and 59 points.