On April 25, Beijing time, the first round of the 2024 World Championships continued, and during the season finale, WST came with good news for next season: the total prize money of the 2025 Masters will exceed 1 million, and the total prize money will soar by 40%. The prize money for the winner has remained at £250,000 since 2020 and will be increased to £350,000 next season and the runners-up from £100,000 to £140,000. Since its inception in 1975, the Masters has been the highest-level invitational tournament featuring the top 16 players in the world.
There is reason to expect that next season's World Championships and British Championships prize money will also increase. At present, there are 2 Chinese players in the top 16, world No. 7 Ding Junhui and world No. 11 Zhang Anda, although they have ended this season's journey, the results are a little regrettable, but this season's efforts and results will not be in vain, and it is very possible to help them lock in the qualification for next season's Masters!
Zhang Anda ushered in an explosive season, one championship and two runners-up, the only champion among Chinese players, can no longer ask for more! Ding Junhui reached the finals of the ranking tournament twice, and ended the season with 0 championships, missing the championship drought of more than four years, and there was also an invitational tournament "Six Red Ball World Championships" champion last season. The World Championships have been played for four consecutive years, which is somewhat unsatisfactory! Obviously, the strength is on it, and the luck is also good. Whether it's mentality or choice, the key moment is always a little bit worse, and it can't help but remind people of "the combination ball against Bingham in the past few years, the point pink ball against Wilson, and even the blue ball against Selby a little earlier".
Ding Junhui's starting point is very high, although he is not as good as O'Sullivan, but he is the only player in the "80 Five Tigers" who won the ranking tournament at the age of 18, and is the two heavyweight champions of the British Championships and the China Open, but he has the most difficult journey in the World Championships, and is the only non-Grand Slam winner, the only player who can't wear the crown embroidered label on his chest! Fortunately, the careers of top snooker players are generally longer, Ding Junhui still has time, and fans can afford to wait, even if there are still more years!
Ding Junhui is out, and the "Ding Olympics", which was originally expected to be staged in the quarterfinals, is left for next day (there is an invitational tournament in Chongqing in the offseason).
O'Sullivan's journey of "eight-lap Grand Slam" continues, the first round against Jackson Page, the two sides have met twice in the tour before, and the "Rocket" won all of them, this is the second time the two have met this season, the last time the 2023 Snooker England Open, O'Sullivan won 4-1. This season, although the "Rocket" has not participated in many events, it still won 5 championships (3 invitational tournaments and 2 ranking tournaments), and the results are very good, but because of the lack of participation in ranking tournaments, the instant world ranking has dropped to fifth, and if it wins the championship, it can continue to dominate the rankings! The 22-year-old Welsh youngster has a mediocre performance, except for the World Open, which broke a new career high and advanced to the semifinals, the other tournaments are basically one round.
In this matchup, in the first stage, the Rockets opened six consecutive whips, led 8-1, and scored 122 points in a single stroke in the fifth game, which was the 30th consecutive year that he broke 100 in Crucible. Crucible now has a total of 204 strokes over 100. He is the only one who has more than 200 strokes! The first shot was in the 1995 World Championships, O'Sullivan scored 112 points against Dave Harold in the fourth game, O'Sullivan scored 112 points in a single stroke, and finally won 10-3. In the second stage, Page took the lead and stopped scoring 16 points in a single stroke, and the Rockets then scored 79 points in a single stroke to win the match point 9-1 in one fell swoop. In the 11th game, the Rockets fell behind 12-18, and after a short defensive game, the Rockets scored only 13 points on two starts, and Page scored only 14 points on the start, and the Rockets won again shortly after.
The Rockets advanced 10-1 to Ryan Day, and the round of 16 will determine 15 spots, just waiting for Higgins!
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