China News Service, Beijing, November 11 On the morning of the 30th, Beijing time, the 30 Snooker UK Championship ended the first day of the 2023/1 finals, and Ding Junhui, the "first brother" of Chinese snooker, continued to make great progress, becoming the only unseeded player among the four players who advanced to the top 8 on the same day.
On the day of the British Championships, 16 games of 8 into 4 were played, and Ding Junhui's opponent was Tom Forde, a top 16 player (ranked in the top 16 in the world) and a "post-80s" England player. Although Ding Junhui's world ranking (17th) is below Tom Forde, in the past meetings between the two sides, Ding Junhui has an absolute advantage. In the semifinals of the British Championships and the 6 Red Ball World Championships last season, Ding Junhui defeated Tom Forde to advance to the finals.
Now that the two sides meet again, Ding Junhui still occupies the initiative, scoring 126 and 110 points in a single stroke in the first two games, leading 2-0. After Tom Forde equalized 2-2, Ding Junhui regained the lead and finally sealed the victory 6-3.
In the other three matches of the day, all three seeded players (top 3 players) successfully advanced. Among them, "Golden Left Hand" Mark Williams defeated Jamie Clark 3-16 and became Ding Junhui's opponent in the quarterfinals. World No. 6 Mark Selby narrowly defeated world No. 4 Barry Hawkins 1-4 in a battle of seeded players to face world No. 5 Trump in the quarter-finals, who swept Jamie Jones 6-5 in the quarter-finals.
On the next match day, the British Championships will play the other four matches of the 1/8 finals, and Chinese players Zhou Yuelong and Zhang Anda will appear on the same day. Among them, Zhou Yuelong will face world No. 4 John Higgins. In the 11-32 game, Zhou Yuelong, known as "Sichuan Ding Junhui", eliminated the world's No. 16 Neil Robertson 6-2, breaking a big upset in the British Championships. Whether Zhou Yuelong can "go down" again this time has become a major highlight of the day's event.
As the only TOP16 player in the Chinese Legion, Zhang Anda went straight to the main draw as a seeded player, narrowly defeating England's Elliott Slesser who broke through from the qualifying round 32-16 in the 6-5 match. In the 1/8 finals, Zhang Anda will face a test against the world's No. <> "Belgian Bullet" Brecel.
In the other two matches, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Milkins will bring a powerful showdown between seeded players, while Iran's Hossein Vafi will take on England's Matthew Selt for another place in the last eight. (ENDS)