In the early morning of March 29, Beijing time, the 2022 Snooker Tour Championship ended the opening game, this season's first and number one seed Chinese star Zhao Xintong against Scotland 'Wizard" Higgins, the result of the first stage 5-3, the second stage 8-4 leading situation, and finally lost five consecutive sets, tragically reversed, 9-10 regret out, continue the Masters, Players Championship, four consecutive top high prize money (champion more than 100,000 pounds) in the first round of the event. As this season's British Championship new champion, Zhao Xintong's recent sluggish performance has been questioned by many fans as the weakest seed.
This season, the Chinese legion has achieved an outbreak of counterattack, Zhao Xintong is the first person, he has won two ranking championships in the British Championship and the German Masters, making his world ranking soar to the top eight, and the single-season ranking is sitting on the first place. Therefore, in a series of high-threshold invitational tournaments and ranking matches, Zhao Xintong has become the absolute representative of the Chinese legion, but unfortunately, Zhao Xintong's performance fluctuates too much, and the overall performance in the second half of the season should be said to be unsatisfactory.
After winning the Championship, Zhao Xintong played in the Grand Prix as the top seed, which was the top 32 in a single season to qualify for the event, as a result, he lost 2-4 to Gould in the first round and suffered a round of travel; zhao Xintong played for the first time in the Masters, one of the three major competitions at the beginning of the year, and lost to Higgins 2-6, stopping the first round; the Players Championship in February this year, which is a high-level ranking tournament for the top 16 players in a single season, and Zhao Xintong, as the top seed, lost to Hawkins 3-6 and stopped in the first round Today's tour championship, the first eight of the single season are eligible to play, and Zhao Xintong, who played again with the top seed, still can't win, 9-10 lost to Higgins, and once again traveled out of the round.
If the two championships of the British Championship and the German Masters have allowed the outside world to see Zhao Xintong's sharp attack, then for most of the rest of the season, Zhao Xintong's failed attack and poor defense have quickly beaten him back to his original form, the basic skills are rough, and the choice of key balls lacks thinking and experience, so he paid a tragic price. The fact that he played in three top ranking tournaments as the top seed has suffered a round trip illustrates the seriousness of the problem! In addition, in the match against old rival Higgins, he has lost three consecutive times since winning the British Championship.
For Zhao Xintong, this season his game is only left with the year-end World Championship. He turned out to be a Chinese fan who saw hope, no longer relying on Ding Junhui alone to achieve good results in every game, but his frequent drop of chains in the game still made the fans very worried. Although Zhao Xintong confessed after the game that this is snooker, the fun is here, both uncomfortable and enjoyable. I hope he can play the final battle of the World Championships and leave no regrets for himself.