On March 24, the 2022 World Snooker Tour Gibraltar Open began its first day of contention, with 64 players embarking on a three-day journey to finally decide eight places in the round of 16. The Chinese legion performed well, with a brother Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian winning three victories and successfully advancing to the round of 16. Zhang Anda lost to Jamie Jones in the third round and regrettably stopped; Zhao Xintong, who ranked first this season, was completely absent in the second round, losing 1-4 to Vackering and missing the round of 32, making him the first player to withdraw from the 150,000-strong prize battle in the European series.
The Gibraltar Open is a relatively low ranking tournament in the season, and in the past, few of the top 16 seeds in the world ranking have signed up to participate, and the prize money is relatively small, which has become a competition that many masters scorn. But this year, due to the battle for extra prize packages in the European series, as many as 11 people have the opportunity to compete, so including the popularity king "Rocket" O'Sullivan, who has never participated before, has also signed up, and Zhao Xintong and Fan Zhengyi, members of the Chinese legion who won the European series championship this season, also have the opportunity to compete.
For Ding Junhui, he is the most relaxed, with a desireless mentality, more like training for the World Championship qualifications. So from the first round, he first swept the amateur Lloyd 4-0, defeated Gary Wilson 4-1 in the second round, and faced Ireland's Aaron Hill in the third round, Ding Junhui won 4-1 again, and successfully advanced to the round of 16. Lu Haotian, on the other hand, performed strongly, sending three consecutive 4-0 sweeps, followed by Ding Junhui and advancing to the round of 16.
Zhao Xintong, who won the British Championship and the German Masters ranking competition this season, ranked first in a single season, has already locked up the qualification for the Tour Championship and the World Championship next week. His biggest goal at the Gibraltar Open is to compete for an additional £150,000 prize in the European Series. But he has as many as 10 competitors, so he only has a chance to win the championship. In the first round, he fired at full range, shooting 1 shot to break 1004 50+ to beat Clark 4-1; but in the second round he suddenly muted and was defeated by Wackering 4-1, stopping the second round. In this regard, Zhao Xintong became the first contender for the huge prize to go out.
Among the other Chinese players, Zhang Anda performed amazingly, in the first round he knocked out the 8th seed Hawkins 4-3, and in the second round of the civil war, he defeated Xiao Guodong 4-2 to advance to the round of 32, but unfortunately in the third round against Wales' Jamie Jones, he lost 2-4 and had no chance to go further. Liang Wenbo lost 2-4 to Robertson in the first round and suffered a round of travel. Among the other Chinese players who should appear on the first day, Si Jiahui, Wu Yize, Pang Junxu, Li Xing, Xu Si and others were all regrettably withdrawn from the competition because of flights.