On April 16, 2024, the Snooker World Championships came with good news, Chinese star Si Jiahui reversed Belgian player Ben Mertens 10-9, 7-9 behind for three games in a row, and in the 18th game, after the opponent scored 68 points in a single stroke, he withstood the pressure and cleared the tables, and met Wu Yize.
Si Jiahui is ranked 23rd in the world, and is currently the fourth Chinese player, second only to Ding Junhui, Zhang Anda, Zhou Yuelong, directly from the third round of the qualifying round, just last year's World Championships, Si Jiahui advanced to the semifinals and became famous, and then the 14-5 lead was reversed, losing to Luca Brecel, leaving a deep impression on the outside fans, everyone did not expect him to be almost out of the qualifying stage.
The opponent is the Belgian young player Ben Mertens, ranked only 74th in the world, with the best result in the round of 16 in the past, Belgium now has three professional players, in addition to the world champion Luca Brecel, there are also Ben Mertens, Julien Leclerc, of which the worst result is Ben Mertens, because Leclerc has won the runner-up in a single game time, Si Jiahui is actually not difficult to play.
After the start of the game, in the first game, Si Jiahui got started many times, taking the lead with 73-8, in the second game, Si Jiahui seized the opportunity and won the grappling with 73-35, in the third game, Ben Mertens was not to be outdone, and pulled back a game with 97-32, and in the fourth game, the two sides made mistakes with each other, Ben Mertens completed the super score with 61-22, and neither side played a single stroke of 50+ in the first four games, Si Jiahui was in a sluggish state, and Ben Mertens had limited strength.
At the end of the intermission, Si Jiahui pulled back a game with 82-0 in the fifth game, Ben Mertens scored 124 points in a single stroke in the sixth game, Si Jiahui scored 72 points in a single stroke in the seventh game, and Si Jiahui took advantage of the situation in the eighth game to chase and directly scored 98 points in a single stroke, but unfortunately he did not have a chance to break 100 in the ninth game, and Ben Mertens won the grappling with 62-35 in the ninth game.
In the 10th game, Si Jiahui seized the opportunity to complete the super score with 66-42, in the 11th game, Ben Mertens scored 64 points in a single stroke, in the 12th game, Ben Mertens played many times and pulled back a game with 66-42, in the 13th game, Si Jiahui scored 117 points in a single stroke, and then Ben Mertens won three games in a row with 57-36, 71-14, 81-51, and took the lead in getting the match point, and in the 17th game, Si Jiahui scored 79 points in a single stroke and put pressure on the opponent.
What is thrilling is that in the 18th game, Ben Mertens scored 68 points in a single stroke to interrupt the attack, Si Jiahui did not give up in the face of a desperate situation, and only won 1 point in the reversal of the clearing table, and won 70-69, the deciding game Ben Mertens changed mentality, Si Jiahui ended the game 69-6, and finally reversed Ben Mertens 10-9, and met another Chinese player Wu Yize, and the two sides played a derby to compete for a seat in the main event.