On April 23, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker World Championship ended the 7th matchday competition, and China's famous Zhao Xintong did not play well, and after the end of the first two stages, he fell behind 5-11 and fell into a desperate situation. After the game, Zhao Xintong posted a photo of himself laughing in the sky, and also showed his attitude, and then let go of the fight and strive to create some difficulties for his opponents.
At present, Zhao Xintong's world ranking has reached 6th, which is a testament to his outstanding results this season. Having won the British Championship and the German Masters, Zhao Xintong's confidence has increased greatly, and in the case of Ding Junhui's early exit, Chinese fans are looking forward to Zhao Xintong's impact on the world championship.
In addition, with the help of O'Sullivan, Zhao Xintong's defensive strength has improved, and the most disparity in the first round of the main game was created by Zhao Xintong, in addition to the super offensive strength, we did see Zhao Xintong's progress on the defensive end. Therefore, in the second round against qualifier Stephen Maguire, everyone expects Zhao Xintong to continue to move forward and refresh his best record in Crucible. Another point is that Zhao Xintong's promotion to the quarterfinals has any hope of challenging O'Sullivan at Crucible.
Unfortunately, Zhao Xintong failed to continue the strength of the first round of the game, and although he scored a single shot of 136 points in the first stage, he fell behind Stephen Maguire 3-5. In the second stage, Zhao Xintong's offensive state dropped greatly, only playing a single shot of 72 points in the 13th inning, and there was no performance of more than 50 points at other times, it can be said that Zhao Xintong lost a lot of standards on the offensive end.
Of course, Zhao Xintong also has bright spots, such as the completion of the extreme reversal in the 10th set, quite angry, I thought Zhao Xintong could launch a counterattack, but Stephen Maguire was not affected, and then took control of the situation again. Compared with the first round of competition, Zhao Xintong's unnecessary mistakes are too many, which is one of the main reasons why he has been behind. In addition, Stephen Maguire's game strategy is very accurate, he will not fight with Zhao Xintong to attack, but constantly improve the intensity of defense, waiting for Zhao Xintong to make a mistake, once Stephen Maguire gets started, he can often win with one shot.
The data is the most telling problem, Stephen Maguire has played 2 shots to break the hundred, 5 shots 60+, the offensive success rate is as high as 93%, the defensive success rate is close to 90%, in the face of such Stephen Maguire, Zhao Xintong is not surprised to fall behind by a large score. Next, Stephen Maguire only needs to win two more sets to eliminate Zhao Xintong, it can be said that Stephen Maguire is in sight, and Zhao Xintong has fallen into a desperate situation.
In the face of this situation, Zhao Xintong posted a photo of himself laughing in the sky on the social platform, and showed his attitude: you can let go and fight! Zhao Xintong's mentality is very good, which is worth affirming. Of course, the game is not over, and Zhao Xintong cannot give up easily. Another Chinese player, Fan Zhengyi, sent encouragement: Give me a win! I hope there is a miracle, and I wish Zhao Xintong good luck!