On February 25, 2022, the snooker European Masters final four battle was released. Tonight at 22:30, Graeme Dort vs Ryan Day, Fan Zhengyi vs David Gilbert. At three o'clock the next morning, Ronnie O'Sullivan vs. Tom Ford, Liang Wenbo vs. Anthony McGill.
Born in 2001, Fan Zhengyi from CBSA World Snooker House has only played once before against rival David Gilbert, at the 2020 British Championships, when Gilbert was 6-3. Fan Zhengyi is currently ranked 77th in the world, although it is relatively low, but the state of Fan Zhengyi in recent days has given fans a lot of surprises. At the German Masters, Fan Zhengyi broke through for the first time to break through himself to the top 8 of the ranking competition. This time, he defeated his brother Yan Bingtao to enter the top 8 of the ranking tournament again, which can show that his change is not accidental.
Yan Bingtao from CBSA World Snooker Academy was the first of the nine children in the college's group to break out, and has been set as a benchmark by other children. Zhao Xintong also won the British Championship and the German Masters in one fell swoop this season. It seems that the children's day-to-day training has paid off. Fan Zhengyi also showed his potential recently, winning five consecutive sets to reach the quarterfinals in a battle with Yan Bingtao.
In the first game, the two played hard to score, and finally Yan Bingtao won the first set with a narrow gap of 62-60. In the second set, Yan Bingtao blasted out a single shot of 111 points, and Fan Zhengyi took a 2-0 lead with a clean sheet. In the third set, Fan Zhengyi made a mistake after scoring 40 points, and Yan Bingtao won another set 85-40 through multiple starts, leading 3-0. Such a dreamy start, everyone felt that Yan Bingtao had the right to win. Fan Zhengyi still needs more than one plate compared to the master brother. However, from the fourth inning, the situation began to change.
In the fourth set, Fan Zheng counterattacked at the beginning, using too much force to do his own snooker, even so Yan Bingtao's state is not very good, there are many low-level mistakes, the two of them in this round is the beginning of a real contest. In the end, Fan Zheng scored a single 55 points, 84-53 to win a set, the situation on the court was 3-1. In the fifth set, Yan Bingtao made a mistake after getting 43 points, Fan Zhengyi scored 53 points to clear the table, 86-43 won another set, the score was 3-2.
In the sixth set, the two sides entered a tangled fight, and after several attacks and defenses, Fan Zhengyi had the advantage, chasing another set 65-32, and the score was 3-3 drawn. At this time, Yan Bingtao already felt Fan Zhengyi's sense of oppression. In the seventh set, Yan Bingtao chose to defend, but the effect was not good, Fan Zhengyi played many times, 77-0 to achieve a rebound, (Fan Zhengyi) 4-3 (Yan Bingtao), the first to come to the match point. In the eighth set, Fan Zhengyi was getting better and better, and Yan Bingtao had messed up the rhythm, and the shot was a simple mistake, Fan Zhengyi seized the opportunity, single shot 60 points to end the game, and eliminated Yan Bingtao 5-3 to advance to the top 8.
Also in the quarterfinals was a Chinese player, Liang Wenbo, who eliminated Yuan Sijun in 16-8, and his match against McGill, who started at 3 a.m. the next day. The two have played each other 7 times in the past, and Liang Wenbo has an advantage of 4 wins and 3 losses. McGill is currently ranked 15th in the world, while Liang Wenbo is in 35th.
I hope that the two Chinese players will go well in today's game, and look forward to the two will play in the top 4.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5 – 2 Ashley Hegel
Fan Zhengyi 5 - 3 Yan Bingtao
Arcani Sonsava 2 – 5 Ryan Day
Jordan Brown 2 – 5 Graeme Dort
Anthony McGill 5 – 2 Kurt Maflin
David Gilbert 5 – 3 Pang Junxu
Fraser Patrick 3 – 5 Tom Ford
Liang Wenbo 5 - 3 Yuan Sijun