On January 10, 2024, Beijing time, the Snooker Masters ended the third day of competition and decided two more quarter-finals seats. Defending champion Judd Trump narrowly defeated Kyren Wilson 6-5, and post-70s veteran Barry Hawkins eliminated world champion Neil Robertson 6-3. Hawkins will face O'Sullivan again in the quarterfinals, and Trump and Ali Carter will compete for a place in the semifinals.
On the third day of the Masters, the first game was played by the defending champion Trump against Kyren Wilson, this game can be described as a twist and turn, Trump started slowly, it can be said that the hand is very poor, Kyren Wilson took a 3-0 lead. After that, Trump began to exert his strength, hitting a single shot to break 100, playing at the top level at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, he won 5 games in a row, and directly got the match point 5-3, and the victory was in sight.
Trump had a chance to finish the game in the ninth game, but he couldn't win by one shot, and Kyren Wilson got a good respite and won two games in a row to drag the match into a tiebreaker. In the final tiebreaker, Kyren Wilson scored 51 points in a single stroke, but he lost the fatal red ball in the middle pocket, Trump escaped from death, and completed the extreme reversal with a single stroke of 65 points, defeating Kyren Wilson 6-5, thrilling to advance to the quarterfinals, and facing Ali Carter in the quarterfinals.
Subsequently, world champion Neil Robertson appeared on the court, against the veteran Barry Hawkins, Neil Robertson's form is still not much better, although he hit two consecutive shots to break 100 after falling behind 1-4, but at the last moment he lost two games in a row, lost to Barry Hawkins 3-6, and suffered a round again, it can be said that Neil Robertson has completely fallen. Barry Hawkins successfully advanced to the quarterfinals and challenged O'Sullivan again in the quarterfinals.
So far, six spots have been decided in the quarterfinals of this Masters, and the confirmed matchups include: O'Sullivan vs. Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy vs. Lisowski, Judd Trump vs. Ali Carter. There are two final matches left in the first round, Mark Allen vs. John Higgins and Mark Selby vs. Robert Milkins, and the winners of these two games advance to the quarterfinals and face each other in the quarter-finals.
In addition, the three world champions suffered a round trip, in addition to Neil Robertson, Luca Brecel and Mark Williams, which also shows that the level of competition in the Masters is particularly high, and every game is a strong conversation, and the slightest mistake may be eliminated. Judging from the first round to the current situation, O'Sullivan is in excellent shape, and has shown the confidence to impact the championship, and he is expected to increase the number of his three major championships, let's wait and see!