On April 23, Beijing time, the quarter-finals of the Snooker World Championship continued, with China's only seedling Yan Bingtao playing against defending champion Selby. In the first stage of the match between the two sides, Yan Bingtao was pulled to a 4-4 draw with a 4-2 lead. The second stage can be called a copy of the first stage, Yan Bingtao in the 8-5 lead, chased by the opponent to 7-8 draw! Fortunately, in the 18th set, Yan Bingtao caught Selby's mistake and finally ended the second stage 9-7.
Selby has moved up to number one in the world rankings and is the number one seed at this World Championship. Yan Bingtao is currently ranked 16th in the world. Both had a more relaxed promotion in the first round, with Selby beating Jamie Jones 10-7 and Yan Bingtao beating Wakelin 10-6. Yan Bingtao and Selby have played each other 7 times before, and Yan Bingtao still has a slight advantage of 4-3. However, on the stage of the World Championships, the two met for the first time.
In the first stage, Yan Bingtao lost a good game with a 4-2 lead, and was eventually chased by Selby to a 4-4 draw. Coming to the second stage, Yan Bingtao still played very well at the beginning. In the 9th set, Yan Bingtao scored a single shot of 101 points to win. In the 10th set, Yan Bingtao kept a clean sheet 83-0 and led 6-4. In the 11th set, Yan Bingtao won 72-9 after the battle, and pulled away again 7-4. In the 12th inning, Selby scored a single 132 points to tie the score to 5-7.
After the break, Yan Bingtao once again blasted a single 91 points to win in the 13th set, leading 8-5. However, in the 14th inning, Yan Bingtao, with a 44-0 lead, was reversed by Selby with a single shot of 64 points. The inning boosted Selby's morale, and then in the 15th set Selby scored 131 points to win again, trailing 7-8. In the 16th inning, Yan Bingtao scored a single shot of 50 points, but then there was a low-level error, and Selby turned to defense after 41 points. After the battle, Selby made a wonderful snooker, but the key red ball attack error, Yan Bingtao seized the opportunity, and finally led 9-7 to end the second stage.