In the early morning of April 24, Beijing time, China's Yan Bingtao beat Selby 13-10 in the quarterfinals of the World Championships, and while advancing to the quarterfinals, he also blocked the opponent's way to defend his title. As a top snooker master, Selby is good at grinding, good at calculation, very difficult, many players are unable to face Master Sai, win less and lose more. Why can Yan Bingtao, who has not made a long debut, win him? Looking back at the whole game, Yan Bingtao won on two key points.
Two-man match
The first is tactical confrontation. Nicknamed "The Leicester Clown", Selby is the biggest "Grinding King" after Alberton. In the game, he controlled the rhythm of the game, grinding and rubbing, and the longest shot took more than 6 minutes. Against such a master of plugs, the most important thing is to calm down and not be in a hurry. Otherwise, the game goes into the clown's orbit.
Yan Bingtao, who knows the roots of Selby, treats his body with his human way. In his confrontation with Selby, slow to slow, not impatient, the game became long and long-lasting. The most typical is the 22nd inning of the match, which took 1 hour and 27 minutes for both sides, setting a record for the longest single set at the World Championships. The two had to apply to the referee to go to the bathroom, and the audience in the stadium also left the table from time to time to relax, which showed the slow pace of the game.
Selby was worn down
In this case, the serious illness began to heal, and the older Selby collapsed first. After the game, in Selby's own words: there are 5 or 6 chaos that Yan Bingtao wins. This is also true in actual combat. In the whole game, Selby started to lead once, and in the first stage of the two, Selby had good physical strength and energy, and was still able to fight with Yan Bingtao to a 4-4 draw. At the beginning of the second stage, Yan Bingtao began to gain the upper hand, and finally took a 9-7 lead, and in the third stage, he won the game 13-10. Therefore, tactical alignment is a key to Yan Bingtao's victory over Selby.
Second, the key bureau is well grasped. In the first 21 innings of the match, Selby trailed the game to 10-11 and trailed just one inning. The crucial 22nd innings was crucial for both sides. Yan Bingtao wins, the big score will become 12-10, the first to get the match point; Selby wins, the two sides will fight to 11 draws, back to the same running line, the victory or defeat will become unpredictable. Therefore, who wins this round will determine the direction of the game.
Yan Bingtao laughed to the end
At the critical moment, Yan Bingtao used the grinding function to the extreme, until Selby lost patience and chose to risk attacking the difficult black ball of Theku in the case of falling behind 49-56. As a result, Master Sai did not score the black ball, and Yan Bingtao fatally won the key set with one blow, and then won the final victory. Put in the past, Selby will not risk attacking the black ball. But Yan Bingtao's calm response made Master Sai chaotic. This key round was handled properly and helped Yan Bingtao smile to the end.