The much-anticipated Snooker European Masters finally ushered in the final stage of the showdown, and in the case of many top superstars leaving the game one after another, two Chinese players Fan Zhengyi and Liang Wenbo got two semi-final tickets.
The two semi-final matches are Fan Zhengyi vs. Graeme Dort and Liang Wenbo against Ronnie O'Sullivan, and if the two Chinese players can break through successfully, they will stage the second China derby battle in the final of this season's ranking tournament.
The first match of the semi-finals was officially played by Fan Zhengyi and Dort, Dort as the 2006 World Championship champion was called the Melancholy Prince by fans, and in the past two seasons, Dort was also in a state decline due to his age, but this European Masters is a dream back to peak state.
The post-00s young player Fan Zhengyi gave too many surprises to domestic fans in this competition, not only changed the temper of children who had previously rejected more than 100, but also refreshed the best results of his career, completely breaking through himself full of confidence.
The game began with Dort taking the lead in kicking off, Fan Zhengyi continued to continue the previous hot hand feeling into the long platform and close to the super score, as Dort lost the key black ball Fan Zhengyi once again got on the opening red, and then a round Fan Zhengyi was more undiminished to seize the opportunity to directly win, and blasted out the first shot of the game to establish a 2:0 lead.
In the third game, it was a pity that Fan Zhengyi failed to seize the opportunity to break the attack after only 30 points in the case of Dort's mistakes, and Dort did not hesitate to complete the super score to win back a set. In the key innings of the first half, the two scores alternately led to the color ball stage, and Fan Zhengyi also showed his previous safety ball skills in the defensive battle, forcing Dort to make mistakes many times, and then scored a difficult pink ball through super accuracy to win the game with a 3:1 score into the halftime break.
After returning from the break, Fan Zhengyi seized the opportunity to take the lead but failed to score continuously, but Dort also made a mistake to interrupt the attack, and then the fiery Fan Zhengyi continued to show his super accuracy, and in the color ball stage, he scored a series of difficult goals to lead 4:1.
In the next two sets, Fan Zhengyi was somewhat vigilant due to the big score lead, first in the sixth set of bitter battle, there was a low-level mistake and was chased back by the opponent in the seventh set, and in the seventh set, Dort, who was warmed up, hit the long stage to get on the mobile phone and completed the super score to pull back two consecutive sets to 3:4.
In the crucial eighth game, Fan Zhengyi finally did not let the opportunity slip away, and blasted a single 70+ to reach the match point first in the case of Dort's big gift. In the ninth inning, Fan Zhengyi took the lead to establish a lead and then the attack was interrupted, but Dort's sluggish state was about to be full of mistakes, and after a defensive time, Fan Zhengyi missed the ball when he had the opportunity to take away the game, and Dort took advantage of the situation to save a match point.
In the tenth set of the game, Fan Zhengyi was seized by Dort to get started, but it was not long before Dort gave a fatal mistake, and Fan Zhengyi once again withstood the pressure to blast a single shot 80+ to win 6:4 to advance to the final of the European Masters.
Looking at the whole game of duels, Dort can be said to be the suppressed side, not only the accuracy is completely abused, even the defensive side is not the upper hand, and Fan Zhengyi is more and more courageous and still feels hot, and the defense has also been greatly improved.
Reaching the final of the ranking tournament for the first time, Fan Zhengyi not only continues to create his own miracle, but is only one step away from the first title of his career. Next, Fan Zhengyi will wait for Liang Wenbo to play Kai in the final, and sincerely hopes that the two Chinese players can successfully meet and win the final championship and runner-up.