On February 13, 2022, Beijing time, the Snooker Players Championship ended the semi-final competition, and the 35-year-old Jimmy Robertson failed to continue his strength, losing 1-6 to world champion Neil Robertson and missing the final. Although he failed to reach the final, Jimmy Robertson's world rankings improved significantly, which led to Ding Junhui's world rankings slipping again.
In this competition, 35-year-old Jimmy Robertson became the number one dark horse, winning 6-1 in the first round against Luka Bracher, and facing Higgins in the second round, Jimmy Robertson played a higher level of competition, winning 6-4 and advancing to the final four. In the semi-finals, Jimmy Robertson's opponent was Neil Robertson, who eliminated Karen Wilson and O'Sullivan in succession and played very strongly.
Apparently, world champion Neil Robertson is more favored, and he is the number one favorite to win the tournament. Sure enough, Neil Robertson completely suppressed his opponents after the opening, although Neil Robertson only shot three 50+ and made some mistakes at key moments, but his opponent Jimmy Robertson failed to continue his strength, and there was no single shot more than 50 points in the whole game, and his control of details was far inferior to Thater Robertson.
In the end, Neil Robertson easily defeated Jimmy Robertson 6-1 to advance to the final. Following the Snooker Masters, Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins meet again in the final, this time, can Barry Hawkins win back a city and break the nearly 5-year ranking championship drought?
Although Jimmy Robertson missed the final, his performance in this competition has been outstanding, and the world ranking has risen from 38th to 27th, which has led to Ding Junhui's world ranking falling again, from 30th to 31st. Next, Ding Junhui will play in the Welsh Open qualifiers, and he should let go.
In addition, although the final of the Players Tournament has not yet started, the real-time ranking of seeded players has also changed. Zhao Xintong's ranking reached 7th, a new career high, Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins also improved, while Sean Murphy dropped from 7th to 10th, and Yan Bingtao still ranked 13th. Next, Yan Bingtao must continue to work hard and strive to be among the top 8 in a single season, so as to qualify for the Tour Championship!