On February 23, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker European Masters ended the second day of competition, and 6 world champions appeared, resulting in 4 people successfully advancing and 2 people out of the cold. Defending champions Mark Selby and Sean Murphy both lost 3-5 and missed out on the round of 32. Trump won three straight sets at a 2-4 deficit to make it 5-4.
On this matchday, the first world champion was Higgins, whose opponent was Jamie Clarke. Higgins scored a single 82, 53 and 73 points after conceding the first set, and he won five straight sets to eliminate Jamie Clark 5-1. While that's not higgins' best form, it's enough to advance to the round of 32.
Then, O'Sullivan played against China's Zhang Anda, who quickly got into shape, shooting a hundred and a four-shot 50+ in the first half of the game, leading 4-2. Zhang Anda did not give up, and then played a single shot of 114 and 91 points in a row, dragging the game into the decider. Zhang Anda even had hope of winning in the decider, but unfortunately it fell short, and O'Sullivan won the decider 96-44 and advanced to the round of 32 5-4.
Neil Robertson continued his strong athletic form, shooting consecutive singles of 105, 101, 107 and 116 points, all of which kept clean sheets in the first four innings. In the fifth set, Neil Robertson scored a single 76 points, but unfortunately was sent off for a foul, and his opponent Alfie Boden scored seven points. Neil Robertson failed to complete the feats of a five-shot breaker and five consecutive clean sheets, but was already quite tough.
Trump, like O'Sullivan, also went through a bitter battle, and after the opening, Trump led 2-1, and his opponent Jack Jones shot a single shot of 115, 94 and 128 consecutive points to take a 4-2 lead over Trump and take the first match point. Trump then shot consecutive 73, 83 and 98 consecutive singles, which only allowed Jack Jones to score four points in these three sets, and in the end, Trump reversed the opponent 5-4 and advanced to the round of 32.
The four world champions who won above advanced to the round of 32, and two world champions were upset. Defending champion Mark Selby shot a 100-over, a 50+ shot, but lost 3-5 to Jordan Brown. During this time, Selby was under tremendous mental stress and was undergoing treatment, and as he said, health came first, and he wanted Selby to rest well.
The last appearance of Sean Murphy did not perform well, losing three consecutive sets with a 3-2 lead, losing 3-5 to Thailand's Sankam and missing the round of 32.
At this point, the first round of the main tournament is all over, and the round of 32 is out. A second round will follow, with O'Sullivan playing against Wu Yize, Trump against Kot Maflin, Higgins against Tom Ford and Neil Robertson against Pang Junxu. Good luck to all the contestants!