On April 17, 2022, Beijing time, the first day of the snooker World Championship was contested, 5 seeded players made their debuts, and 3 won. Among them, Selby took the lead to advance to the round of 16, and Zhao Xintong and O'Sullivan took a large lead. Barry Hawkins and Sean Murphy trailed, both 3-6, and both were likely to be eliminated by qualifiers.
Defending champion Mark Selby is in good shape, shooting a single shot of 134, 129, 137 points, and a four-shot 50+, and he eliminated Jamie Jones 10-7, taking the first step in his defending trip. The winning Selby will face the winner between Chris Walkerlin and Yan Bingtao in the second round.
There are also two seeded players who have achieved a relatively large lead, that is, Zhao Xintong and O'Sullivan. Zhao Xintong hit two breakers, plus four 50+, to lead Jamie Clark 7-2, it can be said that Zhao Xintong stepped into the round of 16 with one foot.
O'Sullivan was in a slump in the opening stages, at one point falling behind 0-3, but O'Sullivan is the six-time champion of this arena after all, and his ability to adjust is particularly strong. O'Sullivan then scored 122, 64, 104, 66 and 54 points to win six straight sets to end the first half 6-3. As long as O'Sullivan plays normally next, it is also a matter of time to advance to the round of 16.
It can be said that the above three seeded players won the flag, and two seeded players performed poorly and faced out. Veteran Barry Hawkins against Crucible newcomer Jackson Peggy, originally thought Barry Hawkins could easily win, but he felt sluggish, the first half did not have a single shot more than 50 points performance, Jackson Page played quite well, played a hundred, six shots 50+, if not the ninth set unexpectedly missed the opportunity, Jackson Page can take a 7-2 lead, but 6-3 is also successful, Jackson Page is expected to advance to the round of 16.
Finally, there was a strong conversation between Sean Murphy and Stephen Maguire, the world champion and runner-up winner of last season's World Championships. Stephen Maguire qualified for the main tournament and was very strong. In the first half, the two men's offensive touch was very average, With Sean Murphy scoring 53 and 79 points, Stephen Maguire scoring 65 and 67 points, and Stephen Maguire doing better on the defensive end, ending the first half with a 6-3 lead, and Sean Murphy faced an exit.
The winner between Sean Murphy and Stephen Maguire will be the winner between Zhao Xintong and Jamie Clark in the second round. At present, it is very likely that Zhao Xintong is playing against Stephen Maguire, if this is the result, it is definitely good news for Zhao Xintong, and he is expected to continue to break through!