China News Service, Beijing, January 1 (Xinhua) -- The sixth "Ding Olympic Games" of the Snooker Masters ended with Ding Junhui's failure again. So far, the two Chinese players participating in this event have stopped in the first round. But Ding Junhui scored a perfect score of 9 in a single stroke this time, becoming the only player to score 147 points in two strokes in the Masters so far.
On the morning of the 9th, Beijing time, the 2024 Snooker Masters ended the second day of the event. On the same day, the "Ding Olympic Games" between Ding Junhui, the "first brother" of Chinese snooker, and O'Sullivan, the world's "first brother", attracted much attention. In the more than 30 previous meetings between the two sides, O'Sullivan has an absolute advantage. At the Masters alone, the two have met for the sixth time, and Ding Junhui suffered five consecutive defeats in the first five times.
At the beginning of this battle, Ding Junhui, who was slow to heat Xi, was not in good shape, and O'Sullivan, who has been at the top of the world ranking for two consecutive seasons, won four consecutive victories after the start. In the fifth game, Ding Junhui took advantage of the opponent's mistake to launch a counterattack and won the single game. Subsequently, Ding Junhui, who was in good form, went down two more times, and scored his second shot in the Masters and the seventh stroke of his career in the seventh game with a perfect score of 147, rewriting the total score to 3-4.
The suspense of victory and defeat is back in the field. But O'Sullivan, who had better overall strength, stopped Ding Junhui's counteroffensive momentum, and after winning two games in a row, he ended the game 6-3 and won all 6 matches against Ding Junhui at the Masters.
Although he once again missed the victory of the "Ding Olympics", Ding Junhui chased the score to 0-4 in the passive situation of falling behind 3-4, showing his personal strength at the same time, but also showing that his psychological quality, which had been criticized in the past, had been strengthened. It is worth mentioning that in the nearly 50-year history of the Snooker Masters, there have only been 4 strokes of 147 perfect scores, two of which are from Ding Junhui. In the face of the high pressure of the "rocket" this time, Ding Junhui's 147 points should be more "golden".
The other match of the day was between Mark "Golden Left Hand" Williams and "Captain" Ali Carter. This strong dialogue between the two sides was inseparable, and the aggregate score was drawn many times. After a 4-4 draw, Ali Carter suddenly came out of nowhere, winning two games in a row to seal the victory 6-4.
So far, this Masters has produced 4 top eight players, namely: Lisowski, Murphy, O'Sullivan, and Ali Carter.
The 2024 Snooker Masters will be contested by the top 16 players in the world after the British Championship this season. There are 2 members of the Chinese team, in addition to Ding Junhui, there is also Zhang Anda, who won the first ranking championship in the Tianjin International Championships this season. On the first day of the tournament, Zhang Anda was the first to go out, and the two Chinese players who participated in the Masters did not make it to the quarterfinals.
The other four matches of the first round of the Masters (16-in-8) will be between Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen and John Higgins, and Mark Selby and Robert Milkins. (ENDS)