On April 18, 2022, Beijing time, the Snooker World Championship broke out one after another, first Jackson Page eliminated Hawkins 10-7, followed by Stephen Maguire eliminated world champion Sean Murphy 10-8. The winning Stephen Maguire will face Zhao Xintong in the next round, which is obviously good news for Zhao Xintong.
At this World Championship, two former seeded players Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire participated in the qualifiers, and they successfully broke through and once again stepped onto the stage of Crucible. Because the two are very strong and have a lot of experience in Crucible, the seed players are naturally reluctant to face them early.
As a result, Ding Junhui drew Karen Wilson and Stephen Maguire drew Sean Murphy, two unpredictable games. The first to appear is Stephen Maguire, he and Sean Murphy are old rivals, from the ranking and results in Crucible, Sean Murphy is more optimistic, after all, he is the world champion, the last World Championships also won the runner-up, to the key competition can always show good form.
However, Sean Murphy was in a very average state this time, trailing Stephen Maguire 3-6 in the first half and facing an exit. By the second half, Sean Murphy was back in form and showed great defensive prowess, at one point 8-7. Unfortunately, he still failed to complete the reversal, Stephen Maguire recalibrated, and then played a high-quality offense in the next three sets, leaving Sean Murphy helpless, and finally won 10-8.
Judging from the ranking, this is considered to be an unpopular, but in fact, the strength of the two is equal, and it is normal for who loses and who wins. Chinese fans are paying close attention to the match as the winner will face Zhao Xintong in the next round. Obviously, this result is good for Zhao Xintong, in comparison, Stephen Maguire's defensive strength is weaker, and Zhao Xintong has the opportunity to continue to move forward.
The last runner-up, Sean Murphy, was a bit of an accident, but it was normal, and he wasn't in good shape this season, and his results were not satisfactory. With the exception of Sean Murphy, veteran Barry Hawkins lost 7-10 to Jackson Page, sending away two seeded players on a matchday. Therefore, if the first half is more behind, the difficulty of turning over is extremely large, and it is quite important to make a good start, for Lu Haotian and Ding Junhui, who appeared later, this is a good enlightenment, and it is necessary to quickly enter the state in order to get the initiative.