Tour Championship: Higgins is beaten out of the tournament and a great record is in danger of ending; Allen will take on Ding Junhui

On the evening of April 1, Beijing time, the 2024 Snooker Tour Championship will start the first round of the first day of competition

1. Higgins was reversed 4-1 by Allen, and the top 16 at the end of the season may not be guaranteed

The first day of two periods of competition, with two games each, determines the outcome of one game.

The little steel cannon Allen, who is ranked 5th in a single season, plays against the wizard Higgins, who is ranked 12th in a single season. In the first game, Allen scored 69 points with a single stroke, and Higgins began to win in a row. In the second game, the wizard won with a single stroke of 85 points, and won the third game with a single stroke of 75 points. In the 4th game, after the wizard fouled 55 points with a single stroke, he started for the second time, and then the next city, 3-1.

After a short break, in the 5th game, the wizard seized Allen's mistake and scored 66 points in a single stroke to complete the super score, Allen failed to reverse, and the wizard took a 4-1 lead with a wave of 4 consecutive whips. Since then, however, the tide has turned. Allen's 6th director got on the stage and shot out a shot to break the 100-clear platform. In the 7th game, grappling, Higgins lost the coffee ball, missed a good opportunity, and finally fell on the black ball. Subsequently, Allen won the 8th game, won 3 games in a row, and equalized the score.

In the second period, both sides hit two 50+ shots each, and the battle was tied at 6, of which in the 11th game, Higgins fell on the final black ball.

After a short break, Allen hit another shot to break 100, 7-6. In the 14th game, Higgins first made a black ball mistake and missed a good chance to win by one shot, and then lost a long table opportunity for the pink ball, which was reversed by Allen. In the 15th game, Higgins scored 86 points in a single stroke to get one back, and the score was 7-8. In the 16th game, Higgins fouled the ball, and Allen scored 93 points to match point. In the 17th game, Higgins made a mistake with the blue ball, Allen fainted and hit the third shot of the game to break 100, sending Higgins away 10-7.

Alas, Lao Zhang still lost, losing 3 games on the black ball. There is no win, and there is no breaking 100, and Higgins is going to complete a thousand breakthroughs at the World Championships this season, which is very suspenseful. The key is that if Higgins is out of the first round of the World Championships, then Lao Zhang's great record of ranking in the top 16 for 29 consecutive seasons will come to an end.

This is the second time the two have met this season, and the last game was in the first round of last year's British Championships, where Ding Junhui took revenge on Allen.

2. The old Wilson led Selby 5-3 and the old horse led Ford 5-3

In the other two games, Gary Wilson, who is ranked 6th in a single season, will face Selby, who is ranked 11th in a single season.

In the first 4 games, the two sides fought to 2 draws. In the 5th game after the short break, Master Sai lost a super bonus goal, and was reversed by Brother Qingtai. Subsequently, Brother Wilson played a single stroke of 78 and broke 100, a wave of consecutive wins, 5-2 lead, the 8th game of the Cypriot master, a single stroke of 71 points to win, 3-5 behind two games, the end of the first period of the game.

In the first 8 rounds, Gary's offensive touch was still very good, hitting one shot to break 100, plus 3 shots of 70+. The Sai master was spinning in a row, just after playing the mixed doubles match, and then playing again in the same venue, and the score was behind, which had something to do with fatigue.

Mark Williams, who came all the way back from China, shot 4 shots of 50+, 5-3 ahead of Tom Ford, and Ford shot two shots to break 100, of which 136 is currently the highest score in a single stroke

3. Draw and schedule

The specific schedule of the second day of the competition is as follows:

◆ April 2, 8 p.m. Beijing time:

Selby v Gary Wilson (2)

Hawkins v Carter (1)

2 a.m. the next day:

Williams v Ford (2)

Hawkins v Carter (2)