On the evening of April 2, Beijing time, the first round of the 2019 Snooker China Open was a focus game, Ding Junhui lost 3-6 under the Club of Thai king James Wattana, the whole game was like sleepwalking, and the bad state that has continued so far this season has not changed, and people can't help but worry about his prospects in the upcoming World Championships.
Perhaps it was yesterday's game against China's Zhang Jiankang that he scored a wonderful 139 points to finish, which made many fans rekindle confidence in Ding Junhui's state. However, against wattana, 49, whose world ranking has fallen to 119th, he made frequent mistakes, allowing his opponents to play a rare victory in recent years. In the first set, Wattana scored a single shot of 81 points to take the lead, and then he grabbed Ding Junhui's low-level error to complete the super score and lead 2-0.
In the third set, the rhythm of both men fell into a trough, the mistakes alternated, Ding Junhui seized the opportunity to clear the pink ball to win back a set, but in the fourth set Ding Junhui's extremely simple red ball did not score, allowing Wattana to play a single 99 points, with a 3-1 lead into the halftime break.
After twenty minutes of adjustment, Ding Junhui's feel seemed to have recovered, playing a single 86-point clean sheet against the opponent, but the good times were not long, in the sixth set he only scored 15 points to lose the red ball in the bag, Andauna unceremoniously played another 98 points, rewriting the score to 4-2. In the seventh set, he seized the opportunity to overtake the score and took the lead 5-2 to win the match point. Ding Junhui, who fought back, managed to save a match point 67-0 in the eighth set, but the poor form had seriously affected his mood, and in the last set he used the burst to vent his depression several times. But the more anxious the more wrong, Wattana looked like he was about to clear the stage, but there was a mistake in the green ball, Ding Junhui had a few powerful snookers, but he did not embarrass the Thai king, and finally lost to the opponent after a struggle.
After the game, Ding Junhui also admitted that he played too badly: "Maybe I am too familiar with him, there is no feeling today, I feel like I am 'sleepwalking', this should be the best game he has played since he played with me so many times." Perhaps he didn't realize until the reporter reminded him that he had missed the perfect opportunity to win the Triple Crown of the China Open - Selby was out of the cold on the first day, and Trump, Williams and Higgins were also eliminated early in today's game. In the lower half of his zone, there are almost no strong opponents. But he couldn't play it himself, the opponent couldn't even pass the first round no matter how weak he was, and the championship was even more nonsense.
Since the updated world rankings after the China Open will determine the seed ranking of the World Championships, the premature exit of the China Open means that Ding Junhui, who is currently temporarily ranked 10th in the world, may continue to decline in the seed rankings, because bingham, Brecher, Maguire, Lisovsky, Carter and other players behind him may be able to squeeze Ding Junhui out of the top 10 by winning the championship in Beijing, and Bingham can even ensure that he surpasses Ding Junhui by only reaching the final of the China Open. With Ding Junhui's current ranking prospects, it is likely that he will be in Crucible with O'Sullivan, Selby and Trump in a half zone, and the prospects are not good!