On 24 October 2021, the German Masters continued. Ding Junhui returned to the field after 186 days of professional competition, but was killed by Mark Davis in the decider with a single shot. Selby, Stevens and Dahdi have won the first round. Cao Yupeng lost 4-5 to Murphy in the promotion round, who joined with Sancam, Ma Fulin and Ryan Day to reach the main stage.
After being out of the first round of the World Championships last season, Ding Junhui finally embarked on the journey again after 186 days. In the German Masters qualifiers, Ding Junhui played against Mark Davis in his season debut. In the game, Ding Junhui scored a single 63 points in the first set to take a 1-0 and 2-1 lead, while Davis stubbornly tied 1-1, 2-2.
After returning from rest, Ding Junhui's feel still did not improve, and Davis played better and better, winning 2 consecutive sets and getting the match point 4-2. In a desperate situation, Ding Junhui played bloody, and his feel suddenly exploded, 61 and 88 points in a row, chasing to a 4-4 draw. In the decider, Ding Junhui took the lead, but after scoring 18 points, the attack was interrupted, and Davis then scored 119 points with a single shot with precision from the far stage, eliminating Ding Junhui 5-4.
The long 186-day vacation is clearly not a positive factor, and Ding Junhui wants to get back to normal levels, which takes longer and more games. Throughout the game, Ding Junhui's defense still has residual power, but in the attack, the white ball is frequently out of control, the confidence in the face of the difficult ball is insufficient, and the offensive and defensive choices are conservative and pragmatic. In the end, Ding Junhui became the fifth top 16 player to pass out of this qualifier after Bingham, Hawkins, Higgins and Lisowski.
It is worth mentioning that the last time Ding Junhui won a professional tournament was back to the first round of the Welsh Open on February 15 this year (4-1 Lu Haotian), since which Ding Junhui has lost consecutive round 2 of the Welsh Open (2-4 Pang Junxu), the first round of the Players' Championship (5-6 O'Sullivan), the first round of the Gibraltar Open (2-4 Scarfy), the first round of the World Championship (9-10 Bingham) and the first round of the German Masters qualification round (4-5 Mark Davis). Even in the most optimistic scenario, Ding Junhui beat Pajit in the English Open postponement qualifier on November 1, his professional game will reach 258 consecutive days without a win.
After losing this game, Ding Junhui's season prospects have become more and more bleak, especially the difficulty of reaching Crucible has further increased. However, the courage, bloodiness and technical skills that Ding Junhui showed when saving two match points in a row became a faint light in the dark road ahead.
The rest of the first round. Selby scored a 134-point break after a 2-2 draw and ended up beating Muir 5-2, while the two former "Big Three" champions did well – Stevens and Dahdi both won in the decider. Astelli replaced Figueredo, who failed to compete due to travel restrictions, and counterattacked Holt 5-3.
In the promotion round, Murphy scored a single shot of 56, 119 and 102 points after falling behind 0-2, 3-2 to overtake the score, and Cao Yupeng responded with a single 128 points to chase down to a 3-3 draw. After that, Murphy won the match point 4-3, and Cao Yupeng stubbornly tied again. In the decider, both had a chance, Murphy with his excellent defense of the last red ball, forced Cao Yupeng to leave the middle bag opportunity after untangling the ball, and in the end, Murphy defeated Cao Yupeng 5-4. Sankam, Maflin and Ryan Day also won the qualifying round to make it to the regular stage.
Results on the 24th
Round 1
Ding Junhui 4-5 M. Davis, G. Green 2-5 S. Craig
M. Gould 4-5 M. Stevens, C. Wakelin 4-5 K. Dahdi
J. Jones 4-5 B. Pinches, M. Holt 3-5 J. Astri
S. Maddox 2-5 A. Katy, M. Selby 5-2 R. Muir
Round 2
D. Lili 3-5 K. Ma Fulin, Cao Yupeng 4-5 S. Murphy
N. Thornham 5-4 Jak Jones, R. Day 5-3 J. Clark
25th fixtures
17:00 (Round 1)
E. Slather vs. Jianbo Zhao, D. Gilbert vs. D. Grace
Lei Peifan vs. S. Wahdi, Yan Bingtao vs Chen Zifan
21:30 (Round 2)
M. Davis vs. S. Craig, M. Stevens vs. K. Dahdi
B. Pinkies vs. J. Astley, A. Carty vs. M. Selby
2:00 (Round 1)
R. O'Sullivan vs. H. Wafi, S. Halworth vs. A. Higginson
Liang Wenbo vs. R. Evans, F. O'Brien vs. B. Hankone