China News Agency, Beijing, February 16th. In the third day of the 2023 Snooker Welsh Open main match that ended on the morning of the 16th, Beijing time, two Chinese "post-00s" teenagers Yuan Sijun and Pang Junxu advanced to the top 16.
Another Chinese player, Tian Pengfei, also successfully passed the 64-to-32 competition, increasing the number of Chinese players who advanced to the top 32 of this event to four.
The Welsh Open will have a double match on the same day.
In the first 64-to-32 match, the "post-80s" veteran Tian Pengfei and the "post-00s" teenager Wu Yize played successively, with 1 win and 1 loss——Tian Pengfei defeated the legendary British veteran Jimmy White, who was over 60 years old, 4:2 , becoming the fourth player to advance to the top 32 in this tournament after Yuan Sijun, Cao Yupeng and Pang Junxu.
Wu Yize was killed by England player Andy Hicks 3:4, regrettably stopped.
In the ensuing 1/16 finals, the Chinese teenagers Yuan Sijun and Pang Junxu, who had dedicated the classic battle of the weak to the strong the day before, once again staged stunning performances. Both of them defeated their opponents 4:1.
Yuan Sijun faced the 51-year-old Welsh star Dominic Dale this time. The latter swept the world's No. 4 favorite Neil Robertson 4:0 in the previous round, breaking a big upset in this event.
But in this game, the Welsh veteran was no longer as brave as the previous day, and fell behind 0:2 in the first two games.
After Dell regained 1 point in the third game, Yuan Sijun didn't give his opponent another chance, won two games in a row, and easily won with a total score of 4:1.
On another table that started at the same time, Pang Junxu, who eliminated the world's eighth and "the strongest post-90s" Wilson in the last round, continued his style of winning the previous day.
In the passive situation of losing one game first, Pang Junxu played steadily and won 4 games in a row. He also eliminated Irish player Alan Hill with a total score of 4:1, and both advanced to the top 16 with Yuan Sijun.
In other events of the day, Selby, who ranked second in the world, and defending champion Joe Perry made another upset, both of which stopped in the top 32.
"Rocket" O'Sullivan swept his opponents 4:0 to advance to the top 16, and the world hegemony once again showed the king's appearance.
A total of 9 Chinese players were shortlisted for the top 64 of the Welsh Open, and 4 of them advanced to the top 32.
In the previous day's match, Ding Junhui, the "first brother" of Chinese billiards, lost in the "Chinese Derby" with Cao Yupeng, and suffered a round of the main match.
On the 4th day of the 2023 Snooker Welsh Open, there will continue to be a one-day double match.
Cao Yupeng and Tian Pengfei will take the lead in competing for the top 16 places, while Pang Junxu and Yuan Sijun will compete for the top eight seats.
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