China's post-00 teenager Si Jiahui, ranked 23rd in the world, continued his excellent performance in last year's World Snooker Championships.
In the early morning of April 24, Beijing time, in the first round of the 2024 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, England, Si Jiahui played 19 rounds and defeated world champion Mark Williams 10:9, advancing to the round of 16 and becoming the first Chinese player to reach the top 16 of this World Championship.
In the 2023 World Snooker Championships, Si Jiahui reached the semifinals in the main tournament for the first time as a qualifier, becoming the youngest World Championship top 4 player in 27 years. In this year's World Championships, Si Jiahui successfully entered the main match through two rounds of fierce competition in the qualifying rounds. However, the first round of the main draw brought the 49-year-old former world champion Mark Williams, who has won the World Championships three times and is a Grand Slam winner who has won the World Championships, the British Championships and the Masters.
The first round was played in two stages. In the first stage, after 9 rounds, Williams, ranked 6th in the world, won two games in a row and led 2:0 on aggregate. Si Jiahui fought back, and after completing the score with 4:3, the two sides entered the struggle, and Williams won two games in a row to end the first stage of the competition 5:4.
In the second stage, Si Jiahui was full of firepower, and entered the break with 8:5 in 4 consecutive games. The experienced Williams launched a counterattack to tie the score at 9-9. In the deciding game, Williams made a mistake, and Si Jiahui seized the opportunity to get started and scored 77 points in a single stroke to lock up the win.
"It's great to beat such a strong, tough opponent! I didn't have a target at this year's World Championships, I wanted to try not to put pressure on myself and just focus on every goal, I know a lot of fans expect something from me and I don't want to disappoint them," Si said after the game. ”
Si Jiahui's opponent in the second round is fellow qualifier Jack Jones, the match will start on April 26, the second round is 25 rounds and 13 wins, divided into 3 stages, of which, April 26 at 17:00 (8 rounds), April 27 2:00 (8 rounds), April 27 21:30 (9 rounds).
Text丨Rushing News reporter Wu Yongming
Photo丨Xinhua News Agency