Zhao Xintong 9-13 Stephen Maguire

At 17:00 p.m. Beijing time on April 23, the 2022 Snooker World Championships will start on the 8th race day. Zhao Xintong, the 7th seed of the competition and Chinese player, fell behind 5-11 in the first two stages. Although he won four games and saved two match points in the third stage with 2 shots of 60 +, he lost to Stephen Maguire 9-13 and missed the top 8. The Scots will face the previous winners of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen in the quarter finals.

The 2022 Snooker World Championships will be held from April 16 to May 2 at the krusburg theatre in Sheffield, UK. This event is the last ranking match of WST in 2021 / 22 world snooker tour.

A total of 32 players were qualified for the competition, including 4 Chinese players. The competition is divided into five rounds, a total of 31 games. In terms of competition system, the first round is 19 sets and 10 wins, which is divided into two stages; The second round and the quarter finals are 25 sets and 13 wins, which are divided into three stages; The semi-final is 17 wins in 33 sets and the final is 18 wins in 35 sets, which are divided into four stages. The champion is awarded £ 500000 and the runner up £ 200000.

This is the second contest between Zhao Xintong and Maguire in their career. Previously, the two sides only met in the second round of the 2016 British championship, and Maguire won 6-2.

In the first stage of the game, the two sides jointly staged a scoring war. Although Zhao Xintong played one shot to break 100 and two shots to 70 +, but Maguire played two shots to break 100 and two shots to 60 +, in the end, Zhao Xintong lost three games in a row with a big score of 3-2, and ended the first stage with a big score of 3-5.

In the second stage, Zhao Xintong did not give full play to the smooth offensive characteristics at all. In the eight games, he only played one shot 70 + and won two games. After the big score reached 5-8, he lost three games in a row as at the last moment of the first stage, and ended the second stage with a big score of 5-11. Maguire is only two games away from victory.

After the third stage, Zhao Xintong took the lead in the 17th inning, but broke after 41 points in a single shot. Since then, the scores of both sides have increased alternately. Zhao Xintong seized the opportunity again when he took the lead 42-24, hit 40 points in a single shot and pulled back a set 82-24. In the 18th inning, Zhao Xintong took the lead again, blew out 85 points in a single shot, won another inning with 85 (85) - 0, and caught up with 7-11.

However, in the 19th inning, Maguire seized the opportunity to take the lead, scored 81 points in a single shot, won the key inning with 81 (81) - 0, and won the match point 12-7. In the 20th inning, Zhao Xintong, who was in a desperate battle, took the lead in taking the single shot 67 points, but failed to complete the super score, but only extended the score. However, Maguire failed to seize the opportunity and conceded after scoring 16 points in the second stroke and being fined 4 points for a foul. Zhao Xintong saved a match point with 71 (67) - 16, falling behind 8-12 to enter the halftime.

Back from the break, in the 21st inning, although Zhao Xintong only played 48 points in a single shot, he still started many times and saved another match point 70-7. In the 22nd inning, although Maguire made a wrong start and was fined 4 points, Zhao Xintong only scored 1 point and broke. Since then, Maguire seized the opportunity to start, but broke after 59 points in a single shot. At this time, there are six red balls left on the table. However, Zhao Xintong failed to score. Maguire started again, scored 19 points in a single shot and won with 78 (59) - 5. The second one was promoted to the top 8 with a big score of 13-9.