China News Service, Beijing, February 23rd - On the morning of the 23rd, Beijing time, the fourth day of competition for the 2024 Snooker Players Championship ended.
In a strong dialogue that day, Mark Selby, ranked fifth in the world, blocked "Rocket" O'Sullivan, who topped the world rankings, and ended his opponent's 16-game winning streak while advancing to the semi-finals.
The fourth day of the 2024 Snooker Players Championship continues with the quarter-finals (6 wins in 11 games).
In the first game, Mark Allen, ranked third in the world, won as expected. He defeated Gary Wilson, who had just won the Welsh Open championship, 6-4, becoming the successor to "Captain" Ali Carter. Later, the second player to advance to the semi-finals of this event.
A strong dialogue between O'Sullivan and Selby began in the early morning of the 23rd, Beijing time.
This season O'Sullivan has been crowned in the Shanghai Masters, British Championship, Masters and World Grand Prix, and won the last three championships within two months, winning the Masters and World Grand Prix double crown within one week. , the winning streak reached 16 games.
However, in the past month, O'Sullivan has withdrawn from the German Masters and Welsh Open due to physical reasons. This time he appeared at the Players Championship, and his status and performance attracted attention.
In his debut at this tournament, O'Sullivan defeated Chinese player Zhou Yuelong 6-2.
But in the quarter-finals, facing Selby who was in good condition and had stronger overall strength, O'Sullivan showed his fatigue and fell behind 0-5 in the first 5 games.
In the sixth game, although O'Sullivan scored 58 points on a single stroke first, Selby reversed the game and won 6-0, becoming the third player to advance to the semi-finals of this tournament.
Although it is reasonable for who to win in this battle between the two powers, it is still surprising that O'Sullivan, who has topped the world rankings in the past two seasons, is so vulnerable.
This season's World Championship will start in April. With O'Sullivan's current form, can he be crowned at the World Championship for the eighth time and win all three majors (UK Championship, Masters, World Championship) in a single season? , and achieving the feat of "eight-lap Grand Slam" in the three major competitions has become even more suspenseful.
The last quarter-final of the Players Championship will be held on the next match day, with this season's Tianjin International Championship champion and Chinese player Zhang Anda challenging four-time World Championship champion John Higgins.
In the first round, Chinese snooker's "big brother" Ding Junhui was eliminated by "Wizard" Higgins.
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