China News Service, Beijing, February 14th. On the morning of the 14th, Beijing time, the competition for the second day of the 2024 Snooker Welsh Open ended. The Chinese Legion suffered heavy losses that day. Five people, including Ding Junhui, suffered in the first round of the main draw. In this game, only two "post-00s" players Si Jiahui and Fan Zhengyi advanced to the top 32.
On the second day of the Welsh Open, the first round of the main draw was fully launched (64 out of 32). Seven Chinese players played, with 2 wins and 5 losses. Among them, Ding Junhui, the "big brother" of Chinese snooker who has attracted much attention, suffered an upset in the first round of the main draw.
Ding Junhui, who is ranked 11th in the world, will face the English player Robbie Williams, who is also a "post-80s" player. The latter is ranked outside the 50th place in the world. However, China's "No. 1 Brother" was in poor condition and fell behind 0-2 in the first two games. Later, although Ding Junhui tied the score 2-2, he lost two consecutive games and finally stopped in the top 64 with 2-4.
In fact, Ding Junhui's elimination this time had already been revealed in the postponed qualifying match the day before. Facing England's professional newcomer Jason Kendrick, who is ranked outside the top 100 in the world, although Ding Junhui won 4-2, his sluggish state and low-level mistakes in the game still made people sweat.
The other four Chinese players who were eliminated that day all encountered strong opponents, and their defeat was expected. Among them, Xiao Guodong, Tian Pengfei, and Ma Hailong all lost to the top 16 players in the world (Xiao Guodong lost to Barry Hawkins 3-4, Tian Pengfei lost to John Higgins 1-4, and Ma Hailong lost 0-4 to Mark Allen), Long Zehuang lost to Anthony McGill, ranked 25th in the world, 1-4.
Fortunately, as the leaders of the Chinese Legion's "post-2000s", Si Jiahui and Fan Zhengyi showed their strength as leaders of the new generation of Chinese snooker. They both defeated Welsh players Andrew Padgett and Belgian players 4-2 respectively. Player Ben Mertens advanced to the top 32.
In the 2022 European Masters final, Fan Zhengyi became famous after narrowly defeating the world's number one "Rocket" O'Sullivan 10-9. In last season's World Championships, Si Jiahui, who participated in the World Championships for the first time, broke into the semi-finals and became the youngest player in the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship this century. In the German Masters earlier this month, Si Jiahui won the runner-up in the ranking event for the first time.
The third day of the Welsh Open is a double match. In the first 64-to-32 final round, Chinese players Zhang Anda, Wu Yize, and Hong Kong star Marco Fu will continue to compete for the top 32 seats. In the subsequent 32-to-16 round, Si Jiahui will compete with world No. 3 Mark Allen for a spot in the top 16. (over)