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Snooker Championship: O’Sullivan knocks out Zhao Xintong in the semi-finals to fight Fan
China News Service, Beijing, November 4th. On the morning of the 4th, Beijing time, the 2022 Snooker Championship Invitational Tournament ended the fourth day of competition in Bolton, England. The 7-time world champion O’Sullivan won the final group final with 6 :1 Lightly beat Chinese player Zhao Xintong to get the last place in the semifinals and will face another Chinese player Fan Zhengyi in the semifinals.
The 16 contestants in this championship match were divided into 4 groups, and the top of each group entered the semi-finals. In the first 3 days of the event, Selby, ranked fourth in the world, last season’s European Masters champion and Chinese teenager Fan Zhengyi, and defending champion Trump, ranked third in the world, have occupied 3 semi-finals.
The fourth match day of the Champions League is the last group match. The four contestants are: 2022 World Championship champion and current world No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan, 2022 Gibraltar Open champion Robert Milkins, last season’s British Championship and German Masters champion Zhao Xintong, and 2022 The 2008 Women’s World Championship, Thailand’s Wang Harutai.
In the first game of the group, “Rocket” O’Sullivan faced Robert Milkins, who was also “post-70s”. After the two sides drew 2:2 in the first 4 rounds, O’Sullivan won two consecutive rounds and took the lead with a big score of 4:2.
In the “Gender War” in the second group match, Zhao Xintong also defeated Thai female player Wang Haruthai 4:2, and as expected, joined O’Sullivan in the group final. The winner of the two will face Fan Zhengyi in the semifinals. Therefore, Chinese fans all hope that Zhao Xintong can knock down the “Rocket” and stage a “China Derby” with Fan Zhengyi in the semifinals.
But this eye-catching matchup did not bring the results that Chinese fans expected. O’Sullivan, who ranks first in the world, is still domineering, leading 4:0 in the first 4 innings. Although Zhao Xintong pulled back a game in the fifth game, it was still difficult to prevent the “rocket” from taking off, and O’Sullivan finally advanced to the semi-finals with a 6:1 victory.
O’Sullivan couldn’t hide his love and optimism for Zhao Xintong. He believes that Zhao Xintong just failed to reach his potential. “He is a brilliant genius, and I believe he will have a bright future.”
So far, the top four of this championship match have all been produced. The situation of the two semifinals is: Trump VS Selby, Fan Zhengyi VS O’Sullivan. In addition to Fan Zhengyi, the other three players are the top four players in the world. World No. 2 Robertson missed the cut precisely because he lost to Fan Zhengyi in the group stage.
At the European Masters at the end of February this year, 21-year-old Fan Zhengyi won his first ranking title of his career. That 10:9 lore of O’Sullivan’s classic final made the “post-00” Chinese teenager famous. This time, when I meet O’Sullivan again, Fan Zhengyi’s performance is worth looking forward to. This eye-catching battle will take place in the early morning of the 6th Beijing time (8:00 p.m. local time on the 5th).