Beijing time on October 26 news, the first round of the 2021 Snooker German Masters Qualifier continued, a derby battle, Masters champion Yan Bingtao played smoothly, played a hundred (118 points) and two 50 + (85 points, 55 points), 5-2 victory over Chen Zifan to advance to the second round.
Yan Bingtao is ranked 13th in the world, and these two seasons are the best performers in China. In last year's Masters final, he won the championship with a 10-8 victory over four-time World Champion "The Witcher" John Higgins. At the Northern Ireland Open, which ended a week ago, he won 4-3 against the winning favourite "Rockets" Ronnie O'Sullivan.
With the good form of the Northern Ireland Tournament, Yan Bingtao came to the German Masters qualifiers. In the first round, Yan Bingtao's opponent was 26-year-old Chen Zifan, who was ranked 116th in the world. In the past, Yan Bingtao and Chen Zifan have met 3 times, with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss. The most recent meeting between the two sides was at the 2020 British Championship, when Chen Zifan narrowly defeated Yan Bingtao 6-5.
In this game, Yan Bingtao performed averagely in the first three sets, and Chen Zifan took the lead. In the first set, Yan Bingtao won the first set 61-33 through several starts, and opened the door 1-0.
In the second set, in the glue match, Chen Zifan pulled back a set 78-41, and the score was 1-1. In the third set, Chen Zifan scored a single shot of 76 points, 77-8 to win another set, 2-1 reverse. In the fourth set, Yan Bingtao finally found a sense of breaking up with a single shot, he played a single shot 85 points, 109-32 to win a set, the score came to 2-2, the two sides entered the break with a draw.
In the fifth set, after returning from the break, Yan Bingtao continued the offensive feel of the previous game, and he scored a single 55 points. 87-3 won another set and led again 3-2. In the sixth set, the two engaged in a tug-of-war, Yan Bingtao won 72-53, the score advantage extended to 4-2, and won two match points.
In the seventh set, Yan Bingtao did not give Chen Zifan the opportunity to save the match point, he blasted a single shot of 118 points, 122-1 to lock in the win, the total score of 5-2 to win the promotion. Overall, Yan Bingtao feels average, and I hope that the promotion round can be improved!