On November 27, 2022, Beijing time, the German Snooker Masters ended the qualifying round, and six Chinese players appeared on the last matchday, resulting in a result of 5 wins and 1 loss. Among them, three Chinese players broke out to be upset, young player Fan Zhengyi overturned world champion Shaun Murphy, Li Xing eliminated Barry Hawkins 5-2, and Ding Junhui defeated veteran Matthew Stevens 4-5. Ding Junhui was unable to move up the ranking in this tournament, and Fan Zhengyi, who reached the main event, continued to catch up with Ding Junhui and was expected to close the gap.
In the first five match days of the qualifying round, 7 Chinese players have already reached the main event, and the overall results are very good. On the last matchday, six more Chinese players appeared, and the result was both surprises and regrets. The surprise was that Fan Zhengyi eliminated world champion Sean Murphy, and in the match, Fan Zhengyi won four consecutive games after falling 1-2 down, knocking out Shaun Murphy 5-2 and securing a valuable main draw spot.
At present, Fan Zhengyi's instant ranking is 36th, and reaching the main draw also means that he has the opportunity to further improve his ranking, catching up with Zhou Yuelong, Ding Junhui and others in front of him. Ding Junhui, who has been in excellent form recently, unfortunately went out, facing Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui chased 4-4 after falling behind, but he missed the chance in the tiebreaker and lost 4-5 and missed the main draw. From the perspective of the game process, the low efficiency of the long platform and too many mistakes in key moments are the main reasons for Ding Junhui's loss.
The third biggest upset was made by Li Xing, who faced seeded Barry Hawkins, who won three consecutive games after 2-2, during which he shot a one-shot 70 and 92 to finally eliminate his opponent 5-2 and advance to the main draw, which was indeed a surprise. In addition, the youngster Jia Hui played well, he swept Andy Hicks 5-0. Cao Yupeng shot a single 60, 72, 69, 74 and 50 to knock out Scott Donaldson 5-3, and Cao Yupeng and Si Jia Hui also won the main draw spot.
The last Chinese player to finish the game was Pang Junxu, who fought fiercely with Gary Wilson. Pang Junxu led 3-1 at one point, but Gary Wilson was particularly tenacious and then chased 3 draws. At key moments, Pang Junxu remained calm, especially in the more complicated situation of the tiebreaker, Pang Junxu played steadily, showing maturity at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends that did not match his age, and finally eliminated Gary Wilson 5-4 to seal the main draw spot.
So far, the Chinese players have achieved 5 wins and 1 loss on this match day, Fan Zhengyi, Si Jiahui, Cao Yupeng, Li Xing, Pang Junxu won the main tournament spot, plus the 7 Chinese players who previously advanced to the main tournament (Zhao Xintong, Yan Bingtao, Peng Yisong, Zhao Jianbo, Tian Pengfei, Zhang Anda, Xiao Guodong), there are a total of 12 Chinese players in the main match signing table, which is surprising. Unexpectedly, on the last match day, only Ding Junhui suffered a defeat, and unfortunately did not participate in the main match!