In the early morning of April 24, Beijing time, China's Yan Bingtao, after a long 23-game battle, eliminated the defending champion Selby 13-10 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Championships. In particular, the 22nd innings of the two men took up to 1 hour and 27 minutes, setting a new record for the longest single set since the birth of the World Championships.
Yan Bingtao grinds down Selby
In today's professional snooker field, Selby and Yan Bingtao are recognized as "grinding kings", and both of them are relatively slow to play. In the first round of this World Championship, Yan Bingtao defeated Wecklin, Selby eliminated Jones, and the big and small grinding kings met in the second round as scheduled.
In the first eight innings, the two were tied 4-4. In the second stage, the two spent nearly 4 hours, and Yan Bingtao took a 9-7 lead. At two o'clock in the morning of Beijing time on the 24th, the third stage of the two people's competition began, and the game was still anxious and long and fragmented. First, Yan Bingtao won the 17th and 18th sets 61-47, 63-52 in the fight, leading 11-7. Selby then won three consecutive sets 86-0, 117-16, 88-0 to bring the score to 10-11. Who of the two can laugh to the end, this matter is really difficult to say.
Selby was thinking
The crucial 22nd inning was crucial for both men. Yan Bingtao won, then 12-10 took the lead to get the match point. Selby won and will chase it to 11 draws. Therefore, both men are very cautious and think carefully before each shot. As a result, the innings took 87 minutes and 24 seconds, and a new World Championship single-set length record was born.
Due to the long time of the game, both of them applied to the referee to go to the bathroom in the middle of the game. After a long tug-of-war, the older Selby took the lead in not being able to bear it. Selby trailed 49-56 and only the difficult stickers were left on stage. Selby, who had been physically and mentally exhausted by Yan Bingtao, chose to take the risk of attacking, but did not score. Yan Bingtao smiled and scored a black ball to win 63-49.
Yan Bingtao was thinking again
In normal times, under the circumstances of the time, the careful and cautious Selby, who was good at grinding, would never choose to take the risk of attacking. But when it comes to Grinding Face Bingtao, Selby can't eat it, and the Little Mill King is raw and defeats the Big Mill King. After winning the 22nd set that determined the course of the game, Yan Bingtao continued to work hard, taking advantage of Selby's serious injury to clean sheet 112-0 in the 23rd set. 13-10, Yan Bingtao advanced to the quarterfinals.