In the early morning of April 28, Beijing time, the 2022 Snooker World Championships ended the second 1/4 final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, and China's "post-00s" rookie Yan Bingtao and "Golden Left Hand" Mark Williams fought fiercely for 24 rounds, and finally lost 11-13 to the opponent, missing the final four of the World Championships. So far, 4 Chinese players who played in the main tournament of the World Championships have been eliminated.
Yan Bingtao, ranked 16th in the world, played steadily in the first two rounds of the main tournament, eliminating qualifier Wakelin 10-6 in the first round and defeating the previous champion Selby 13-10 in the second round, showing maturity and stability beyond age. In the quarterfinals, Yan Bingtao encountered williams, the 8th seed of the tournament and the "bitter lord", and the game adopted a long-term format of 25 innings and 13 wins, which was played in 3 stages. Yan Bingtao did not give up in the unfavorable situation of falling behind 2-6 in the first stage, and in the second stage, he returned to the "golden left hand" with a 6-2, and the total score came to 8 draws.
The third stage of the competition that began on the evening of the 27th Beijing time is equivalent to the two of them having to play a game with 9 innings and 5 wins. In the 17th set, Williams made a mistake first, and Yan Bingtao played very calmly around the powder ball. With 62 points, Yan Bingtao led 9-8 on aggregate. In the 18th set, Williams started with a low-level error, and Yan Bingtao almost copied the progress of the previous set, scoring 102 points in a single shot, extending the lead to 10-8.
Williams, 47, clearly regained his grip after the night before, scoring a single 135 point in the 19th inning and winning 72-0 in the 20th, bringing the total to 10 draws. In the 21st set, Yan Bingtao was lucky to touch the red ball into the bottom pocket in a defensive attack, and won with this ball, and the aggregate score once again took the lead. Perhaps seeing the hope of victory, Yan Bingtao did not play firmly enough in the next 3 innings, many opportunities were not decisively spelled, and the defense also lost the sharpness of the second stage, allowing Williams to easily get started. In the end, the "Golden Left Hand" won 3 consecutive sets and won 13-11.
"I'm very happy to win this tough contest of close strength." Williams admitted after the game, "In the last year, I have played a lot of close matches, but all lost. I didn't feel pressured at all when I was behind, I was just trying to get some motivation to win. According to Williams, after the first two stages, he was physically exhausted and his feet could not walk, so he was not frustrated by the second stage of Being beaten 6-2 by Yan Bingtao, but was glad that he did not lose more miserably.
"For me, Crucible is the best snooker venue in the world and it's great to be in the semi-finals. In the 30 years since I became a professional, I have always tried to be the best I can be. It doesn't matter who my semi-final opponents are – because they (Bingham and Trump) are both former world champions, the game will be very tough. "
Yan Bingtao, who lost the game, was not too disappointed, saying: "I lost my attention in the first stage of the game and fell behind 6-2. In the second stage of the game, I tried to adjust myself and calm my mind to pull the score to 8. I'm confident in my abilities and I feel like I can do better. Before playing against Williams, I could hardly find a way to win. This time we worked together to give the audience a very close game. I was a little nervous when I was leading 11-10 because once I reached the semi-finals, I would have a single-table match in Crucible (before the semi-finals, the venue would be divided into several pieces for the tournament to be held at the same time). I had the opportunity to extend the score to 12-10, but I thought too much and the home ball went off, eventually leading to defeat. ”
According to Yan Bingtao, compared with other players, he did not practice very hard before the World Championships, but adopted the training rhythm of practicing for a day and resting for a day, but let him not have too much pressure at the beginning of the main game, and he could maintain his attention for a long time. At the age of 22, he reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships, and Yan Bingtao's future is unlimited.
Billiards "Emperor" Hendry said after watching the game, "I am optimistic that Yan Bingtao can win the World Championship before Zhao Xintong, this venue is suitable for him to play, and he also has all the conditions to win the championship here." ”