Day 1 in Hong Kong saw the first two quarter-finals played in front of a huge enthusiast crowd. The setup is very impressive. Judge by yourself by watching this short video posted by Barry Hawkins on twitter. Barry recorded it when re-entering the arena after the MSI.
Marco Fu beat Barry Hawkins by 5-3, from 3-1 down. Marco, of course, has all the expectations on his shoulders, being the local hero. The tension showed a bit before the MSI, but as the match unfolded, he played better and better, finishing with a 132 TC.
Neil Robertson beat Mark Selby by 5-3 as well and was always in front and in control. It was Mark Selby’s first outing since he suffered a foot injury and he was understandably a bit rusty.
The event is streamed on the CBSA official page
As for Ronnie, he practiced by playing an exhibition match against Jimmy White.
He also gave an interview, saying that the event is a great success, that the best players in the world are there to enjoy the occasion and delight the fans. Asked about his chances to win it, he said that he doesn’t know, really, that everyone there has their chances, but that it’s a great opportunity to entertain the fans with quality matches and very rewarding.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Great
Tried tunnelling from Hong Kong with VPN.Didn’t work.
Oops 😦
But at least we have a ‘kind’ of stream. 🙂
Match is here too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUtFp53i0l4
Yes, and thank you for that, but unfortunately this cap features all the lags and freezing of the CBSA stream going through the Chinese firewall.
Yeah it’s frustrating.
Maybe we’ll try to use Chinese proxy to avoid these lags.
What a nervous match that was!
From 2-4 down to 5-4! What a drama that was
Cannot believe what i’m seeing.
From 2:0 up his safety game is rubbish!
Thank you Monique !!
… for the link to watch the event live and for finding and sharing the exhibition on youtube.
I`m still hoping that someone, somewhere on youtube will be uploading the matches and I really would appreciate a hint at where to find them.
if you have a Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/780946398739207/videos/811317352368778/
Thanks, krdltr; for the link(s);
it works fine for me even without a facebook account.