On November 14, 2022, Beijing time, the British Snooker Championship ended its second matchday competition, and upset became the main theme of this matchday. Of the four seeded players, only Luca Brecel advanced to the round of 16, favourites Neil Robertson and Higgins went out on the same day, and Barry Hawkins was reversed by Ding Junhui, who not only triumphed, but also reaped the big news, that is, to unlock the career 600-shot milestone.
A total of eight matches were scheduled on the first two matchdays of the British Championship, and the result was that four seeded players were out, and four qualifiers reached the round of 16, and this year's British Championship was a huge hit. Among the seeded players, Zhao Xintong, Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Barry Hawkins were eliminated one after another, and their opponents Sam Craigie, Joe Perry, Tom Forde and Ding Junhui won the round of 16.
Neil Robertson and Higgins are not only world champions, but also recognized favourites. As a result, Neil Robertson lost 2-6 to Joe Perry and Higgins lost 4-6 to Tom Forde, which should be the biggest upset since the start of the tournament. Previously, Joe Perry and Tom Forde both achieved very important victories in qualifying, such as Joe Perry's 6-0 sweep of Graeme Dort, which gave him self-confidence, and the qualifiers quickly entered the game against the seeded players who had been separated for a long time. From this point of view, although the British Championship set up the qualifying tournament to protect the top 16 players in the world, it is not necessarily a bad thing for the players participating in the qualifying round.
At the end of the first two matchdays, three Chinese players completed the first round and achieved a record of 1 win and 2 losses, with defending champions Zhao Xintong losing 2-6 to Sam Craigie, Lu Haotian losing 4-6 to Luca Brecel, and Zhao Xintong and Lu Haotian suffering a round of miserable losses. Ding Junhui won five consecutive games after falling behind 3-1, knocking out Barry Hawkins 6-3 to win the round of 16 and the first victory of the tournament for Chinese snooker.
In addition, Ding Junhui also received great news, that is, he unlocked the milestone of breaking 100 in the 600 and became the seventh man in the professional snooker arena. Throughout the game, Ding Junhui shot two to break 100 and 50+ to five, his competitive state has improved significantly, and he has played a relatively high level at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, if he can improve the success rate of Yuantai, Ding Junhui has the hope of attacking the championship. However, Ding Junhui's signing luck is indeed average, and the next match against the winner between Mark Williams and Jamie Clark is a tough battle.
Currently, eight spots have been determined in the round of 16 of the Snooker Championship, and the confirmed second-round matches include: Sam Craige vs Ryan Day, Mark Allen vs Kyren Wilson, Luca Brecel vs Tom Forde. Ding Junhui against the winner between Mark Williams and Jamie Clarke, and Joe Perry against the winner between Bingham and Highfield. There are also 4 Chinese players who will appear in the next matches, Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong start the derby on matchday 3, Xu Si plays Lisovsky on matchday 4, and Xiao Guodong challenges Trump on matchday 4, good luck to the Chinese players!