On March 26, 2022 Beijing time, the Snooker Gibraltar Open ended the second matchday competition, and 5 big cold spots broke out throughout the day, world champions Higgins, O'Sullivan, seeded players Mark Allen and Lisovsky were out, and Joe Perry, who had previously won the ranking championship, also failed to reach the round of 16. Higgins' exit allowed Ding Junhui to take advantage of the air, and the latter's chances of advancing to the quarter-finals were greatly increased.
On this matchday, six of the world's top 16 seeded players appeared. In the first round, O'Sullivan led 3-1 and lost three consecutive sets, losing 3-4 to Wollaston, breaking the first big upset. The other five seeded players Higgins, Lisowski, Mark Allen, Bingham and Trump performed well, passing the first two rounds.
Trump beat Andrew Higginson 4-0 and Blackville 4-0 to shoot a five-shot 50+ in two games. Higgins eliminated David Grace 4-2 and Astri 4-1, facing Astri, Higgins shot a two-shot breaker. Lisovsky eliminated Mark Davis 4-1 and Mitchell Mann 4-0 to score a one-shot breaker in both matches.
Mark Allen eliminated Mark Joyce 4-2 and Halworth 4-1, scoring a hundred and five 70+ in both games, which felt quite good. Bingham eliminated Gerald Green 4-1 and Jimmy White 4-1, and in the fifth set against Gerald Green, Bingham scored a single 147 points, which was quite domineering.
By the third round, the seeded players were hit hard. World champion Higgins lost three consecutive innings in a 2-1 lead and lost 2-4 to Jimmy Robertson, breaking out the second big upset. If Higgins wins, the quarter-finals will be against Ding Junhui, a result that makes Ding Junhui profitable and further increases the possibility of advancing to the quarterfinals.
The third upset was Lissovsky's 1-4 defeat to Tom Ford, who scored a single 119 in the first set before losing four innings to the round of 16. The fourth upset was Mark Allen leading 3-1 and losing three straight sets to Robert Milkins 3-4. If Mark Allen wins, the next round of opponents is Lu Haotian, which is also good news for Lu Haotian.
There was also a fifth upset, with Joe Perry, who previously won the ranking tournament, losing 2-4 to amateur Michael White. In the end, only two seeded players broke through on this match day, and Trump eliminated Lin Binfeng 4-1 to advance to the round of 16. Veteran Bingham eliminated Yuan Sijun 4-2 and also won a place in the round of 16.
After this matchday, the round of 16 was all released. The specific matches in the fourth round are:
Trump vs Richie Walton, Jordan Brown vs Jamie Jones, Jimmy Robertson vs Ding Junhui, Tom Ford vs Karen Wilson
Neil Robertson vs Jack Jones, Bingham vs Wahdi, Lu Haotian vs Robert Milkins, Ben Hankone vs Ben Wollaston
The focus battle is Trump against Richie Wharton, both of whom are hoping to win the extra prize money for the European Series, keeping hope of winning and losing completely. Richie Wharton is also competing for a world championship seeding, and the next game is especially important for him!