Xiao Guodong won three consecutive games to stage a super big reversal! China's famous player broke two hundred and carried Wollaston to the round of 32
In the first phase of the World Snooker Champions League group round robin that just ended on July 4, 2023, Beijing time, China's Xiao Guodong and England's snooker player Wollaston advanced to the round of 32.
China's Xiao Guodong, seeded in Group 32, had high hopes before the tournament began. After the start of the match, he drew 2-2 with McLeod, then beat Heussenbach 3-1 with a one-shot 101, 123 and 50 points, and then swept Gould 3-0 to advance to the round of 32 with two wins and one draw and seven points.
In Group 16, Wollaston swept Graham and Old Linens 3-0 and drew 2-2 with Jimmy Robertson to advance with seven points from the group.
Xiao Guodong successfully advanced to the round of 32 with two wins and one draw in the group
In Group 32, China's Xiao Guodong was not in good form at first, starting with a number of mistakes that missed the first set of the match, and then successfully changed the score to a 1-1 draw with a one-shot 70-point performance.
Immediately afterwards, McLeod won another game and took a 2-1 lead, and then Xiao Guodong shot 93 points to draw 2-2 with McLeod and struggled to get one point. After entering the second game, Xiao Guodong beat Heussenbach 3-1 to win three points and enter the final match with four points with a one-shot 101, 123 and 50 points after falling behind Yousenbach 0-1.
In the third match, Xiao Guodong met Gould, but the latter did not put pressure on Xiao Guodong, who swept his opponent 3-0 to the end of the laugh and advanced with 7 points from the group.
Wollaston made a strong comeback and eventually advanced to the round of 32
In Group 16, Jimmy Robertson was the strongest player, but his performance in the group round robin was not ideal, so he could only declare an upset and Wollaston became the eventual winner.
In Wollaston's promotion process, he met young player Liam Graham in the first game, and the lack of experience and ability of the young player allowed Wollaston to control the situation smoothly, and finally Wollaston swept Graham 3-0 to take the first three points to become the top player in the group. Immediately afterwards, Wollaston met the veteran Peter Lanes, who thought that the experienced veteran would cause problems for Wollaston, but the latter beat Lines 3-0 with a relaxed performance to get three points again.
At one point in the final match, Wollaston was in a very dangerous position as his opponent Jimmy Robertson took a 2-0 lead. However, the strong Wollaston eventually drew 2-2 with Robertson and eventually advanced to the round of 32 with seven points from the group.
Xiao Guodong and Wollaston both won thrillingly to advance
Although both Xiao Guodong and Wollaston have successfully advanced to the round of 32, looking back at the match, it is easy to see that their path to promotion was very difficult. In Xiao Guodong's group, there are veteran McLeod, Gould and the strong young player Yusenbach, in this group, it is not surprising that any player has advanced.
However, Xiao Guodong was the winner of this group with his excellent play and perfect rhythm control, and he played an amazing performance against Yousenbach. In the case of a bad start, he was able to finally qualify for the promotion, and Xiao Guodong's performance was really good. And in Wollaston's promotion process, his performance was also excellent.
He swept Graham and Peter Lanes 3-3 and needed to avoid a 3-0 defeat in the final game, which he was beaten 2-0 right away. Fortunately, he then won two consecutive games and eventually advanced to the group with 7 points.