On the evening of February 24, Beijing time, the snooker European Masters ended the 1/16 final competition, and the 8 Chinese players who finally appeared in this round performed well as a whole, Yan Bingtao, Liang Wenbo, Pang Junxu, Fan Zhengyi and Yuan Sijun successively advanced, of which Pang Junxu reversed robertson this season's triple crown 5-4, Fan Zhengyi beat the world's fifth Wilson 5-4, and only Zhou Yuelong, Xiao Guodong and Wu Yize were eliminated. In the top 16, only O'Sullivan, Yan Bingtao and McGill are left in the round of 16.
The round of 16 matches is shown below:
In the first half, Jordan Brown played last year's performance in the Welsh Open, upset Selby after a clean sheet Xiao Guodong, and Dortmund met in the 1/8 final, the latter after reversing Zhou Yuelong, basically dumped the relegation pressure, Thailand's Song Shaward 5-4 upset Brechel, with this victory ranking soared 8 places temporarily also get rid of the risk of relegation, he will compete with Ryan Dai for a place in the top 8, and Yan Bingtao will fight for one, the last time the two met was in the 2019 China Open qualifiers, At that time, Yan Bingtao 6-0 clean sheet Fan Zhengyi, Pang Junxu against Gilbert, the two have not played each other, Gilbert in the 5-4 game against Hawkins, did not shoot any 50+.
In the second half of the zone, O'Sullivan faced Ashley Hugh Gill, who was ranked 81st in the world, the latter eliminated Lisovsky and Carter in succession, The Kept a clean sheet for Higgins' Ford against Patrick, the latter and Hugh Gill and Pang Junxu were all equals in the best record of the career ranking match, Liang Wen expo master Yuan Sijun, plus Yan Bingtao and Fan Zhengyi's derby, there are at least two Chinese players in the top 8, if Pang Junxu advances to the top 8, then the top 4 will ensure a Chinese player, and finally McGill meets Norway's Ma Fulin, The latter upset Trump 5-3 in the last round.
It is worth noting that the strength of the top 16 squad is not strong, only O'Sullivan has won the championship this season, and half of the players have never touched the championship of the large ranking tournament, which is a great opportunity for O'Sullivan to expand the total number of ranking champions and return to the world number one, for Chinese players, it is also a once-in-a-lifetime good opportunity, of course, for other players, it is also a good time to make a breakthrough.